>^^ 


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IVje  Rosto?i   Rlect?'ical  Haridhook 


THE  BOSTON 
ELECTRICAL 
HANDBOOK 


Being  a  Guide  for  Visitors  from  Abroad 
Attending  the  International  Electri- 
cal Congress,  St.  Louis,  Mo. 
September,  1904 


iBnstnu 

I'uMishl-ll    1,11. l,t    Ih.-     .lllS|,i,  CS    of 

\    The   Arr^erican   Institute  of 
Electrical    Engineers    \ 
1904 


Copyright,  1904,  by 
American   Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers 


Stanbopc  prcaa 

).     GliSON     COMPANY 
BOSTON,     U.S.A. 


PREFACE 

This  little  volume  is  intended  to  set  before  our  dis- 
tinguished guests  from  across  the  sea  something  of  the 
achievements  of  New  England  and  of  Boston,  which  is 
the  educational  and  technical  centre  of  New  England,  in 
the  applications  of  electricity.  Boston  has  been  the  pio- 
neer in  many  successful  enterprises,  and  has  earned  an 
honorable  reputation  in  particular  in  the  various  branches 
of  electrical  science.  It  has,  moreover,  a  distinguished 
reputation  in  the  training  of  electrical  engineers,  as  well 
as  in  pure  science,  and  has  furnished  the  capital  and  tiie 
brains  for  many  successes  elsewhere  in  the  United 
States. 

It  is  hoped  that  these  pages  will  give  at  least  a  broad 
view  of  the  technical  features  of  interest  in  and  about 
Greater  Boston. 

The  earnest  thanks  of  the  Committee  of  Publication 
are  due  to  the  various  organizations  which  have  most 
heartily  and  enthusiastically  co-operated  with  them  in 
pusiiing  this  volume  to  completion,  and  particularly  to  a 
group  of  gentlemen,  not  members  of  the  committee,  who 
have  freely  and  cordially  given  their  time  and  labor  to 
tlie  work.  Messrs.  J.  Harvey  White,  H.  E.  Reynolds, 
W.  .S.  Allen.  T.  I).  Lockwood,  E.  B.  Fillsbury,  F.  E. 
Barker,  W.  D'A.  Ryan,  C.  F.  Ames,  and  Gen.  Thomas 
.Sherwin  should  receive  the  special  thanks  of  the  commit- 
tee for  their  share  in  the  ta.sk  ;  and  also  the  Congrega- 
tional Publishing  Company  of  Boston,  for  the  loan  of 
several  illustrations  not  otherwise  obtainable. 

The  Stanhojfe  Pre.ss,  printers,  and  C.  J.  Peters  &  Co., 
engravers,  should  al.so  receive  due  credit  for  their  excep- 
tional promptness  in  the  all-important  mechanical  work 
of  transforming  the  manuscript  into  this  volume. 


CONTENTS 


Page 

The  Story  of  Boston ii 

Electkicai.  H(jstox 25 

The  B(;ard  ok  Gas  and  Electric  Lkjht  Com- 
missioners        27 

The  Boston  Elevated  Railway  Comi'axv      .  35 

The  Massachusetts  Electric  Companies  .     .  77 

The  Edison  Electric  Illuminatin(;  Comi'any.  89 

Electrical  Manufacturing 109 

The   American    Telephone    and    Telegraph 

Company 114 

New  England  Telephone  and  Telegraph 

Company 150 

Harvard  University 157 

The     Massachl'setts     Institute     of     Tech- 
nology     179 

The  Western  Union  Telegraph  Company     .  1S9 
The    Postal    Tele(;raph-Cap.le   Company  in 

New  England 192 

Some  Miscelt-aneous  Industries 195 

Itinerary  (jf  the  Tour 201 


INTERNATIONAL   ELECTRICAL   CONGRESS 

LOCAL   RECEPTION    COMMITTEE 

BOSTON,  MASS. 


C.  L.  Edgar,  Chairman 
C.  B.  BuRLEKJH,  Treasurer  and  Secreia?y 


C.  A.  Adams 
C.  F.  Ames 
J.  L  Ayer 
W.  A.  Bancroft 
Louis  Bell 
F.  E.  Barker 
H.  E.  Clifford 
C.  B.  Davis 
Louis  Duncan 
C.  W.  Elliot 

F.  P.  Fish 
H.  V.  Hayes 

I.  N.  HOLLIS 

S.  Hosmer 

A.  E.  Kennelly 

G.  H.  Lyman 


T.  L.  Livermore 

C.  H.  HODSKINSON 
E.  B.  PiLLSBURY 

H.  S.  Pritchett 
W.  L.  Puffer 
Thomas  Sherwin 
P.  F.  Sullivan 
C.  H.  Taylor 
Fred  Tudor 
Elihu  Thomson 
C.  S.  Sergeant 
R.  L.  Warner 
T.  C.  Wales 
H.  P.  Walcott 
W.  P,  Whitmore 
LuiGi  Mario  Vitoli 


COMMITTEE    OF   PUBLICATION 
Louis  Bell,  Chairman 


C.  A.  Adams 
H.  E.  Clifford 


C.  S.  Sergeant 
Sidney  Hosmer 


THE 
STORT   OF   BOSTON 


The  Story  of  Boston 

To  the  visitor  from  across  the  sea,  Boston  pre- 
sents less  of  novelty  and  perhaps  more  of 
kindred  interest  than  any  other  large  Ameri- 
can city.  Fifth  in  the  list  of  size,  it  is,  save 
New  York,  the  oldest  permanent  settlement  on  the 
American  continent  which  has  succeeded  in  achieving  a 
large  growth,  and  in  preserving  continuously  its  earlier 
character  and  attributes.  From  the  standpoint  of  the 
mother  country  it  is  a  very  young  city,  and  yet  its  history 
goes  back  to  the  earliest  epoch  at  which  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  civilization  had  gained  a  foothold  on  the  new 
continent.  The  Spaniards  had  settled  on  the  south,  and 
the  French  on  the  north,  when  the  Cabots  and  their  ad- 
venturous successors  secured  to  England  and  all  that  the 
English  heritage  implies  the  coast  that  lay  between 
Acadia  and  the  futile  and  evanescent  settlements  in 
Florida. 

The  first  permanent  record  of  Boston  and  its  harbor, 
studded  then  with  wooded  islands  and  surrounded  by 
wide  stretches  of  salt  marsh,  was  by  the  adventurous 
Captain  John  .Smith,  cousin-in-spirit  to  Drake  and  that 
daring  list  of  explorers  who  had  gone  before.  Smith 
charted  the  coast,  and  gave  to  some  of  its  salient  points 
the  names  they  have  since  retained,  in  1614.  Even  then 
the  hardy  fishermen  from  England  and  from  France  were 
storing  their  ships  with  cod  off  the  Banks  and  along  the 
northern  coast  of  New  PLngland  ;  and  the  country,  by 
repute,  was  becoming  known. 

F"ive  years  later  came  the  forerunner  of  the  movement 
that  resulted  in  the  founding  of  Boston  and  the  perma- 
nent occupation  of  the  northern  country.  The  advance 
guard  of  the  I'uritans  came,  not  from  England,  but  from 
Leyden,  and  settled,  by  a  somewhat  unhappy  chance,  at 
II 


12  The   Boston 

Plymouth  rather  than  farther  south,  where  they  had  in- 
tended to  go,  or  farther  north,  in  Boston,  where  the  geo- 
graphical conditions  would  have  been  more  favorable  to 
their  adventure.  The  Pilgrims  of  the  "  Mayflower  "  were 
closely  in  touch,  however,  with  their  English  brothers, 
from  whom,  indeed,  they  drew  recruits  at  the  time  of 
their  actual  sailing;  and  it  was  their  work,  passed  back- 
ward to  the  mother  country,  that  resulted  in  the  first 
great  movement  of  English-speaking  folk  to  the  new  con- 
tinent. The  first  European,  indeed,  to  explore  the  re- 
gion now  Boston  and  its  environs,  was  Myles  Standish, 
the  right  arm  of  the  church  militant  in  Plymouth,  who, 
with  some  of  his  companions,  cruised  about  the  region 
in  1621. 

A  little  later  the  ill-starred  expedition  of  Sir  Fernando 
Gorges  reached  these  shores,  backed  by  a  syndicate 
of  noble  rank  and  small  vital  interest  in  colonies  as 
such.  It  was  a  speculative  operation  from  the  start,  and 
met  the  end  that  generally  attends  such  expeditions  in 
the  face  of  the  formidable  task  of  developing  a  new 
country.  It  left,  however,  though  abandoned  by  its  pro- 
moters, a  small  remnant  that  settled  here  and  there  around 
Boston  Harbor.  Picturesque  Thomas  Morton,  with  a 
roystering  collection  of  flotsam  and  jetsam,  settled  at 
Mount  Wollaston,  in  what  is  now  the  city  of  Quincy,  a 
spot  which  he  called  Merrymount,  and  proceeded  to  make 
worthy  of  its  name  in  a  fashion  that  shocked  the  God- 
fearing men  of  Plymouth,  and  brought  Captain  Myles 
Standish,  with  his  soldiers,  again  toward  Boston,  bent  on 
an  errand  of  effective  suppression.  On  an  island  in  the 
harbor  that  still  bears  his  name  was  settled,  with  his 
family,  Thomas  Weston,  one  of  Gorges'  attorneys,  per- 
haps cherishing  a  forlorn  hope  of  holding  the  country 
for  his  client.  On  Noddle's  Island  Samuel  Maverick, 
another  of  Gorges'  party,  founded  a  home  ;  and  Wal- 
ford,  a  blacksmith,  preempted  the  near  peninsula,  now 
Charlestown. 

The  first  settler  in  the  city  of  Boston  proper  was  still 
another  who  shared  the  fortunes  of  Gorges,  —  William 
Blackstone,    a  graduate   of    Cambridge   University ;    a 


Electrical    Handbook  ij 

strange,  shadowy  figure,  who  dwelt  in  a  lonely  home  on 
the  western  slope  of  what  is  now  Beacon  Hill,  looking 
out  over  the  wide  meadows  of  the  Charles. 

But  these  were  strays  and  wanderers.  In  1629  began 
the  real  influx  from  England.  A  strong  body  of  the  sturdy 
Puritan  stock  from  around  old  Boston,  with  a  powerful 
and  wealthy  backing  of  influential  commoners,  obtained 
a  royal  charter  and  set  forth,  not  merely  for  adventure  or 
trade,  but  for  the  founding  of  a  colony.  They  were  grim 
reformers,  these  Puritans,  whom  opposition  at  home  and 
despair  of  carrying  out  a  scheme  of  universal  and  drastic 
reform  had  turned  regretfully  away  from  their  native 
land  to  form  a  commonwealth  after  their  own  hearts  in 
a  newer  England.  They  came  in  1630,  after  sending  an 
advance  party  that  settled  at  Salem  under  John  Endi- 
cott,  a  thousand  strong,  under  the  leadership  of  John 
Winthrop,  and  landed  at  first  in  Charlestown.  They 
were  of  the  stuff  that  conquers  nature  and  builds  up 
commonwealths ;  and  Winthrop  was  a  type  of  the 
leaders  who  have  made  the  Anglo  Saxon  race  supreme 
in  many  a  hard-won  land. 

Of  these  and  by  these  was  created  Boston  and  the 
country  that  has  grown  to  be  the  guardian  of  Anglo- 
Saxon  civilization  in  the  West.  From  the  first  the  colony 
bore  with  it  the  elements  of  permanent  success.  Its  task 
in  winning  the  country  was  much  lighter  than  that  which 
has  fallen  to  the  lot  of  most  colonies,  for,  by  a  curious 
chance,  the  aborigines  in  this  locality  had  already,  even 
before  the  coming  of  the  Pilgrims,  been  for  the  most  part 
swept  away  by  internecine  strife  and  by  pestilence,  prob- 
ably small  pox  or  measles  acquired  from  the  visiting  fish- 
ermen ;  so  that  of  .savage  opposition  there  was  practically 
none  in  the  vicinity  of  Massachusetts  Bay. 

The  centre  of  the  colony  soon  became  the  hill-studded 
peninsula  which  is  the  nucleus  of  the  present  Boston. 
It  had  been  known  to  the  Indians  as  Shawmut,  but  the 
colonists  bestowed  on  it  and  on  the  later  .settlements 
about  it  the  names  of  their  loved  home  towns.  Here 
they  built  their  village  and  set  up  their  government. — a 
popular  government,  woven  around   the  church   which 


1 4-  The    Boston 

they  had  crossed  the  seas  to  preserve  and  maintain.  For 
more  than  half  a  century  Massachusetts  was  practically 
an  independent  nation,  under  the  direct  government  of 
its  founders  and  their  successors  ;  and  in  that  period 
Boston  had  grown  to  be  the  most  active  and  important 
settlement  on  the  American  coast.  It  was  preeminently 
a  trading  and  sea-faring  community,  the  base  of  sup- 
plies for  the  large  fishing  interests,  and  the  commercial 
centre  of  the  new  world. 

With  popular  government  and  their  sturdy  church  the 
Puritans  linked,  from  the  very  first,  provisions  for  popu- 
lar education.  They  had  hardly  formed  their  settlement 
before  they  appointed  Philemon  Pormont  a  schoolmaster, 
—  the  first  of  that  long  line  of  New  England  schoolmas- 
ters that  has  kept  up  the  supremacy  of  letters  through  all 
the  stress  of  building  up  the  nation.  Six  years  from  the 
time  when  Winthrop  and  his  party  set  foot  on  land,  they 
founded  Harvard  University,  which  still  remains  the 
most  notable,  as  it  was  the  first,  institution  for  higher 
learning  on  the  continent. 

As  the  settlers  went  out  into  the  surrounding  wilder- 
nes.s,  axes  in  hand,  the  town-meeting,  the  church  and  the 
school  went  with  them  ;  and  in  1647,  by  a  general  law  of 
the  Commonwealth,  it  was  enacted  that  every  township 
"  which  the  Lord  hath  increased  "  to  fifty  householders 
should  appoint  from  their  number  a  schoolmaster,  and 
that  when  the  number  of  families  reached  a  hundred  they 
should  set  up  a  "grammar  school "  capable  of  fitting 
youth  for  the  university.  The  school  was  part  of  the 
Puritan  policy,  and  it  has  gone  with  the  descendants  of 
the  Puritans  from  Boston  to  the  Golden  Gate,  until  every 
town  in  the  three  thousand  miles  that  lie  between  is 
marked  by  a  towering  school-building,  conspicuous  to 
all  comers,  and  bearing  still  the  mark  of  the  Puritan 
desire  for  and  policy  of  education. 

The  settlers  of  Massachusetts  were  English  to  the 
core  ;  and  English  their  descenadnts  have  remained  to 
an  extent  unusual  in  a  country  swept  over  by  great  tides 
of  immigration  in  succeeding  generations.  Boston,  a 
half-century  after  the  founding  of  Harvard  University, 


Electrical    Handbook 


15 


was  characteristically  an  English  town,  with  the  tradi- 
tions of  the  old  home  still  strong  about  it.  It  had  then 
come  to  be  a  town  of  about  six  thousand  inhabitants,  and 
already  the  colonists  had  begun  to  stretch  their  bounds 
by  grasping  land  from  the  sea.  In  the  beginning  Bos- 
ton had  been  a  peninsula,  connected  with  the  mainland 
by  a  narrow  neck  nearly  a  mile  long,  and  so  low  that 
great  tides  now  and  then  swept  over  it.  It  was  margined 
by  tidal  marshes,  through  which  Long  Wharf,  at  the  foot 
of  State  Street,  the  city's  financial  centre,  then  King 
Street,  was  later  built  out  2,000  feet  to  accommodate  the 
larger  commerce.  The  whole  peninsula  included  but 
783   acres,   an  area   which   has   been   much   more   than 


Paul  Revere's  Map  of  Boston 

doubled  by  the  reclamation  and  filling  of  the  marslies,  on 
which  stand  to-day  the  principal  residence  and  some  of 
the  largest  commercial  districts  of  the  city.  The  old  .sea 
line  swept  through  the  western  part  of  what  is  now 
Boston  Common. 

The  jurisdiction  of  Boston  in  tho.se  early  days  in- 
cluded a  large  part  of  the  outlying  country,  later  cut  up 
into  the  towns  and  cities  which  go  to  make  up  what  is 
known  as  Greater  Boston,  and  some  of  which  have  since 
been  reclaimed  by  the  old  city. 

By  the  latter  part  of  the  eighteenth  century  Boston 
had  risen  to  be  a  compact  and  well-built  city  of  .some 
25.000   inlialjilants,  decidedly    the    most    important   city 


l6  T he    Bos t on 

upon  the  coast,  although  later  far  outstripped  in  size  by 
New  York.  To-day  it  has  grown  to  be  a  city  of  some 
560,000  inhabitants,  covering  nearly  43  square  miles  of 
territory,  and  embracing  within  its  tributary  region  of 
Greater  Boston  nearly  40  cities  and  towns  with  an  aggre- 
gate present  population  of  nearly  1,200,000  people.  Bos- 
ton proper  has  no  technical  jurisdiction  over  these,  but 
they  are  welded  into  a  whole  by  situation,  by  common 
interests,  and  by  common  organization  for  certain  public 
purposes.  The  Metropolitan  Parks  district  comprises 
the  region  as  a  whole,  and  includes  38  cities  and  towns  ; 
the  Metropolitan  Water  district  includes  17  ;  the  Metro- 
politan Sewerage  district,  24;  and  the  Boston  Postal  dis- 
trict, 10.  In  a  sense,  therefore,  the  outlying  cities  and 
suburbs  are  now,  in  fact,  as  they  were  and  always  have 
been  by  origin,  condition,  and  spirit,  a  part  of  one  great 
municipal  community. 

Boston  has  been  waggishly  defined  as  "not  a  locality, 
but  a  state  of  mind ; "  and  it  is  the  pride  of  Boston  and 
of  Massachusetts  that  this  state  of  mind  is  the  heritage 
from  Winthrop  and  his  followers,  who  brought  with  them 
to  the  new  England  the  best  traditions  of  the  old.  To-day 
Boston  is  the  fifth  city  in  population  in  the  United  States  ; 
in  financial  and  commercial  importance  it  takes  a  much 
higher  rank.  Once  almost  exclusively  a  city  of  shipping 
and  shipping  interests,  the  wealth  which  it  thus  accumu- 
lated has  gone  out  into  new  fields  of  endeavor,  and  its 
quickening  touch  has  been  felt  throughout  the  country. 
From  this  impulse  came,  on  the  very  outskirts  of  Boston, 
the  first  railroad  built  in  the  country  ;  the  beginnings  of 
the  cotton  industry;  and  many  another  enterprise  that 
has  added  to  the  wealth  of  the  nation. 

Structurally  there  is  litde  left  of  the  older  Boston. 
Time  and  again  it  has  been  swept  by  fires,  and  to-day 
only  scattered  buildings  remain  as  relics  of  the  colonial 
period.  The  Old  State  House,  the  centre  of  government 
in  colonial  days  ;  Faneuil  Hall,  enlarged  nearly  a  century 
ago  out  of  all  semblance  to  its  former  self;  the  Old 
South  Church,  in  the  wooden  predecessor  of  which  Ben- 
jamin Franklin  was  baptized,  and    next  door  to  which 


Electrical    Handbook 


n 


stood  the  house  of  John  Winthrop;  King's  Chapel,  the 
first  permanent  home  of  the  Established  Church  of 
England  in  the  colony,  now  long  dispossessed  of  it;  and 
a  few  other  venerable  buildings,  —  are  all  that  is  left  of 
colonial  Boston's  brick  and  stone. 


The  Old  State  House 

Modern  Boston  is  a  well-built  city,  architecturally 
distinguished  from  others  of  its  size  mainly  in  being 
rather  better  kept  up  as  to  its  general  appointments,  and 


i8  T  h  e    B  0  s  t  0  n 

in  possesfcing,  outside  the  limits  of  the  old  city,  perhaps 
the  finest  group  of  residential  suburbs  to  be  found  on  the 
continent.  The  growth  of  suburban  life  is  favored,  in 
spite  of  the  peninsular  character  of  old  Boston,  by  the 
general  topographical  situation,  with  fine  rolling  and 
hilly  country  stretching  for  miles  about  the  city,  and  by 
two  rivers,  the  Charles  and  the  Mystic,  the  former  of 
which  winds  in  a  peculiarly  sinuous  course  among  the 
western  suburbs,  lending  a  special  charm  to  the  landscape 
in  the  environs  of  the  city.  Boston  is  favored,  too,  in 
possessing  what  is  very  unusual  in  cities  of  its  class,  —  a 
considerable  park,  formed  by  the  ancient  Common  and 
the  Public  Garden,  later  added  to  it  from  reclaimed  land, 
in  the  very  heart  of  the  city,  touching,  indeed,  the  busi- 
ness centre ;  and,  besides,  in  the  wonderfully  beautiful 
and  diversified  park  system,  under  the  control  of  the 
Metropolitan  Park  Commission,  giving  to  suburban  Bos- 
ton, as  well  as  the  city  proper,  an  exceptional  group  of 
parks,  unusual  both  in  size  and  in  beauty. 

Boston  is  also  favored  by  having  its  varied  suburban 
districts  kept  in  close  touch  with  the  centre  of  the  city 
both  by  a  considerable  number  of  suburban  steam  lines, 
and  by  what  is  probably  the  most  effective  electric  car 
system  in  the  world,  presently  to  be  described  at  greater 
length.  These  advantages  have  favored  the  growth  of 
the  city  in  a  very  remarkable  degree,  especially  within 
the  last  decade. 

In  public  and  semi-public  buildings  and  institutions 
Boston  is  particularly  rich,  and  especially  so  in  institutions 
of  learning,  old  and  new.  The  Boston  educational  sys- 
tem, of  course,  centres  around  its  ancient  Harvard  Uni- 
versity, later  to  be  described  at  some  length.  Modern 
technical  instruction  is  represented  nowhere  in  the 
country  by  a  more  worthy  example  than  the  Massachu- 
setts Institute  of  Technology,  resting  largely  upon  a 
public  foundation,  though  aided  by  private  benefactions, 
and  which  for  nearly  forty  years  has  held  a  commanding 
position  in  the  study  of  applied  science.  Its  special 
facilities  are  worthy  of  description  by  themselves.  In 
addition    to    these,    Greater    Boston    possesses   a   note- 


Electrical    Handbook 


^9 


worthy  group  of  less  widely  known  but  most  efficient  in- 
stitutions of  iiigh  collegiate  grade,  which  for  years  have 
done  efficient  and  distinguished  work.  Boston  Univer- 
sity, Boston  College,  and  Tufts  College  are  large  and  well- 
administered  sectarian  institutions,  doing  both  under- 
graduate and  graduate  work.  The  last  mentioned  has 
devoted  more  than  usual  attention  to  modern  engineering 
courses,  and  has  done  a  large  and  praiseworthy  work  in 
furthering  modern  education  as  distinguished  from  the 
old  academic  lines.  Of  these  three,  Boston  University 
and  Tufts  College  are  co-educational  institutions. 


Public  Library- 


There  are,  too,  three  important  colleges  for  women: 
Wellesley,  in  one  of  the  most  beautiful  outlying  suburbs, 
founded  in  1875,  and  long  noted  as  one  of  the  most  im- 
portant of  its  class;  Radcliffe  College,  which  has  been 
built  up  under  the  wing  of  Harvard  University,  and  now 
grown  to  important  dimensions;  and  Simmons  College, 
recently  founded,  and  forming,  in  a  sense,  a  women's 
technological  school  for  instruction  in  such  branches  in 
art,  science,  and  industry  as  will  best  enable  women  to 
earn  an  independent  livelihood.  To  the.se  must  be  added 
a  considerable  group  of  higher  schools,  preparing  for  the 
universities,  and  giving  special  and  professional  training. 


20 


The    Boston 


Quite  co-ordinate  with  any  of  these  institutions  in  its 
bearing  upon  public  education  is  the  Boston  I'ublic 
Library,  long  the  pride  of  the  city,  and  unique 
in  its  intimate  relation  to  the  citizens  as  individ- 
uals. It  occupies  now  a  severely  beautiful  quadrangu- 
lar building  on  Copley  Square,  covering  an  acre  and  a 
half  of  ground,  exclusive  of  the  great  central  court.  The 
interior  is  rich  in  mural  decorations  by  famous  artists. 
It  has  a  splendidly  administered  set  of  reading-rooms  for 
general,  special,  and  technical  work,  and  contains  now 


Main   Stairway,  Boston  Public   Library 


about  900,000  volumes,  thus  placing  it  among  the  world's 
great  libraries  in  point  of  absolute  size.  It  is  a  true 
circulating  library,  free  to  every  citizen  of  Boston  for  the 
withdrawal  of  books,  and  for  reference  to  all  comers 
without  the  slightest  formality.  It  maintains  10  branch 
libraries  scattered  over  the  city;  22  free  delivery  stations, 
of  which  14  are  reading-rooms  as  well ;  and  a  large  num- 
ber of  points  at  which  there  are  regular  deposits  of  books, 
including  all  the  public  schools.     In  the  total  there  are 


Electrical    Handbook 


21 


157  direct  points  of  contact  between  tlie  public  and  the 
contents  of  this  great  library.  It  is  by  far  the  largest 
actively  circulating  library  in  the  country,  and  in  fact  the 
largest  in  the  world.  Besides  this  enormous  local  work, 
in  which  a  million  and  a  half  volumes  are  annually  circu- 
lated, it  carries  on  an  extensive  educational  work  by  free 
lectures  and  special  exhibitions.  The  extent  to  which  it 
is  popularly  used  is  best  shown  by  the  fact  that  it  has 
out  about  75,000  regular  and  special  cards,  which  means 
that  about  15  per  cent  of  the  population  actually  use 
tlie  library  for  the  home  reading  of  books. 

A  minor  but  most  interesting  function  of  the  library 
is  an  informal  system  of  interlibrary  loans  by  which 
books  actually  needed  for  serious  research  can  be  loaned 
to  or  borrowed  from  other  libraries  in  New  England,  or 
even  in  the  country  at  large.  Such  a  privilege  is  neces- 
sarily rather  carefully  guarded,  but  its  value  is  self-evi- 
dent. This  feature  of  American  library  service,  by  the 
way,  has  now  developed  to  a  considerable  extent,  so  that 
it  becomes  possible  for  scholars  located  near  any  large 
centre,    to   command,    in   case    of    need,   the   aggregate 

resources  of  most  of 
the  great  American 
libraries.  Including 
college  and  society 
libraries,  the  Boston 
student  can  obtain,  if 
necessary,  access  to 
more  than  2,000,000 
volumes  in  the  imme- 
diate vicinity. 

On  Copley  Square 
also  is  situated  the 
great  Museum  of  Fine 
Arts,  which  ranks 
above  any  similar  insti- 
tution in  the  countrj', 
particularly  in  some 
of  its  departments:  and  Trinity  Church  (Protestant 
Episcopal),  a  fine    example    of    modern     ecclesiastical 


22  The    Boston 

architecture.  Here,  too,  stand  the  older  buildings  of  the 
Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology  and  the  Natural 
History  Museum,  containing  a  library  and  important 
collections. 

Of  other  public  enterprises  perhaps  the  most  note- 
worthy is  the  City  Hospital,  located  in  the  South  End  of 
Boston,  one  of  the  best  organized  and  administered  in- 
stitutions of  its  class  in  the  world. 

The  Puritan  impulse  in  popular  education  has  surely 
not  been  lost  in  the  later  years  of  Boston's  development, 
spurred  on  by  a  great  group  of  notable  men  in  education, 
literature,  and  art,  and  the  whole  Boston  region  has  pro- 
duced more  than  its  share  of  commanding  figures  in  the 
intellectual  world.  Here  Prescott,  Motley,  and  Parkman, 
historians,  carried  on  their  life-work.  Here  Ralph  Waldo 
Emerson  preached,  and  later,  in  retirement,  studied  and 
wrote.  Here  Hawthorne  wove  his  matchless  romances. 
Here  Longfellow  and  Lowell  and  Holmes  lived  and 
wrought      Here,  too,  Edgar  Allan  Poe  was  born. 

Aside  from  pure  literature,  Boston  has  been  pre-emi- 
nently, as  might  be  well  imagined  from  its  history,  the 
home  of  aggressive  reformers.  It  was  the  centre  of  the 
anti-slavery  movement  that  with  gathering  force  eventu- 
ally drove  out  the  greatest  blight  on  the  western  civiliza- 
tion. Here,  in  protest  against  the  older  theology,  arose 
the  spirit  of  Unitarianism,  and  many  another  movement 
that  has  done  its  share  in  shaping  the  world's  thought. 

In  pure  science,  too,  Boston  and  its  environs  have  a 
distinguished  roll  of  names,  beginning  with  Benjamin 
Franklin,  who  was  born  here  nearly  opposite  the  Old 
South  Church.  Near  there  also  was  the  early  home  of 
Benjamin  Thompson,  Count  Rumford,  who  later  won 
permanent  fame  as  the  pioneer  in  the  dynamical  theory 
of  heat.  S.  F.  B.  Morse,  the  father  of  telegraphy,  here 
was  born  and  passed  his  youth.  Asa  Gray,  the  botanist, 
and  Agassiz,  did  their  life-work  at  Harvard.  In  mathe- 
matics, Nathaniel  Bowditch,  of  "Navigator"  fame,  was 
a  commanding  figure  in  the  early  part  of  the  last  century  ; 
and  following  him,  the  Pierces,  father  and  son.  In  as- 
tronomy, the  Bonds,  father  and  son  again,  gave  to  that 


Electrical    Handbook 


science  its  first  vital  movement  in  this  country ;  and  their 
worthy  successors,  the  Pickerings  and  Chandler,  have 
carried  on  their  work  at  Harvard  up  to  the  present.  In 
connection  with  them  should  be  mentioned  Alvan  Clark 
and  his  two  distinguished  sons,  builders  of  many  of  the 
world's  great  telescopes. 


Kind's   Cliapel 

In  the  middle  of  the  last  century  Boston  was  the 
scene  of  Morton's  immortal  experiments  in  anaesthesia, 
and  tlic  first  operation  under  ether  was  performed  by  him 
in  the  Massachusetts  General  Hospital,  a  great  institu- 
tion still  distinguished  in  the  annals  of  surgery. 


2^  Electrical    Handbook 

And  in  applied  science  it  should  not  be  forgotten  that 
Boston  was  and  is  the  home  of  telephony;  for  in  the  labora- 
toriesof  Harvard  and  the  Instituteof  Technology,  Graham 
Bell  worked  out  what  should  probably  rank  as  the  great- 
est single  time-saving  invention  of  modern  times,  and  the 
telephone  industry  has  had  here  its  permanent  centre.  Bos- 
ton, too,  was  the  first  large  city  to  adopt  electric  traction, 
and  one  of  the  earliest  homes  of  incandescent  lighting. 

Of  these  later  achievements  it  is  the  purpose  of  this 
volume  to  speak  in  suitable  detail,  and  to  set  forth  the 
practical  importance  of  the  engineering  sciences  in  the 
service  of  modern  life 


Electf^ical  Boston 

MASSACHUSETTS,  the  original  seat  of  pop- 
ular government  on  this  side  of  the  Atlan- 
tic, has  developed  its  principles  in  many 
interesting  ways,  in  nowise  more  effectively 
shown  than  in  dealing  with  tlie  problems  which  arise 
in  connection  with  the  administration  of  affairs  in  a 
metropolitan  community  like  Boston.  The  principle 
underlying  the  administration  of  government  in  this 
Commonwealth,  seems  to  be  the  direct  dealing  with  pub- 
lic affairs  in  the  interests  of  the  people.  To  this  end, 
the  referendum  is  a  measure  very  frequently  employed, 
particularly  in  the  metropolitan  districts,  where  public 
questions  are  submitted  to  the  direct  franchise. 

Another  manifestation  of  the  same  direct  and  in- 
formal method  of  action  is  in  the  granting  of  large  pow- 
ers to  Commissions  dealing  with  various  matters  of 
public  importance,  and  coming  into  direct  touch  with 
the  parties  to  discussions  on  these  matters.  Although 
the  authority  granted  to  these  special  Commissions 
might  seem,  at  first  sight,  a  step  away  from  popular  gov- 
ernment, the  closeness  of  their  relation  to  the  interests 
put  in  their  charge  enables  the  public  feeling  and  the 
public  wishes  to  be  expressed  clearly  and  forcibly  to 
those  who  have  authority  to  act.  The  result  of  grant- 
ing governmental  powers  to  those  Commissions  has, 
upon  the  whole,  been  very  happy.  The  Metropolitan 
Park  Commission  and  the  Metropolitan  Water  Commis 
sion,  and  the  rest,  have  been  able  to  effect  notable 
improvements  with  the  minimum  of  fruitless  friction,  and 
with  a  promptness  almost  impossible  to  attain  by  any 
other  means. 

25 


26  El  e  c  tr  i  c  al    Handbook 

Especially  in  dealing  with  the  quasi-public  corpora- 
tions in  their  relation  to  the  cities  of  the  Commonwealth 
these  commissions  have  been  invaluable.  Two  of  them, 
the  Railway  Commission  and  the  Gas  and  Electric 
Light  Commission,  come  in  close  touch  with  electrical 
enterprises.  A  brief  view  of  the  functions  and  opera- 
tions of  the  latter  of  these  organizations  will  give  a  clear 
idea  of  the  way  in  which  they  practically  operate,  and 
the  useful  end  which  they  serve  in  protecting  both  cor- 
porate interests  and  the  rights  and  privileges  of  the  pub- 
lic at  large.  It  has  proved  possible  to  secure  for  service 
on  these  various  commissions,  men  of  high  judicial 
character  and  unquestioned  integrity,  who  have  given 
to  the  unusual  bodies  which  they  constitute  much  the 
same  reputation  for  efficiency  and  integrity  that  has  long 
made  the  Massachusetts  judiciary  distinguished. 


The   Board  of  Gas  and  Electric 
Light   Commissioners 

THE  Board  of  Gas  and  Electric  Light  Commis- 
sioners was  organized  in  1S85  under  authority 
of  a  legislative  act  of  that  year.  It  origi- 
nally had  under  its  authority  only  gas  com- 
panies, but  in  18S9  its  supervision  was  extended  to 
electric  light  companies,  and  it  has  the  same  powers  re- 
specting both  classes  of  corporations.  1 1  consists  of  three 
men  appointed  by  the  governor  of  the  Commonwealth, 
with  the  approval  of  the  council,  each  for  a  term  of  three 
years,  and  the  terms  are  so  arranged  that  one  appoint- 
ment must  be  made  every  year.  The  expenses  of  the 
commission  are  paid  by  the  State,  but  are  recovered  an- 
nually from  the  companies  by  a  special  tax  levied  upon 
tliem  in  proportion  to  their  respective  incomes. 

Originally  the  board  was  given  a  general  supervision 
over  the  companies,  and  was  to  secure  their  compliance 
with  such  restrictive  legislation  as  might  be  in  existence 
with  respect  to  them.  All  companies  were  required  to 
make  annual  returns  in  the  form  prescribed  by  the  board, 
and  to  keep  their  books  and  accounts  in  such  manner  as 
the  regulations  of  the  board  should  determine. 

In  any  city  or  town  in  which  one  company  was  in  oper- 
ation no  second  companv  could  undertake  the  supply  of 
the  same  kind  of  Mght,  except  after  a  public  hearing  be- 
fore the  local  authorities,  from  whose  decision  an  appeal 
might  be  made  to  the  board  of  commissioners,  whose  de- 
cision upon  such  questions  was  final.  The  board  had  also 
authority,  upon  petition  of  the  local  authorities  or  twenty 
customers  of  the  company,  to  fix  the  price  for  gas  or 
27 


28  The    B 0 slo n 

electric  light,  after  notice  to  the  company  and  a  public 
hearing.  It  had  authority  too,  after  pui^lic  hearing,  to 
compel  companies  to  supply  a  would-be  customer  with 
gas  or  electric  light. 

All  these  powers  have  been  continued,  but  from  time 
to  time  the  Legislature  has  had  occasion  to  require  from 
the  board  special  reports  upon  matters  of  unusual  perplex- 
ity which  apparently  called  for  remedial  legislation  ;  and 
by  first  obtaining  from  the  board  the  pertinent  facts  and 
its  opinions,  too  hasty  and  ill-considered  legislative 
action  has  frequently  been  avoided. 

In  1891,  the  Legislature  empowered  municipal  corpora- 
tions, under  certain  conditions,  to  undertake  the  supply 
of  gas  and  electric  light,  but  gave  the  Board  of  Gas  and 
Electric  Light  Commissioners  certain  supervision  over 
those  towns  and  cities  which  should  take  advantage  of 
this  law.  Such  municipalities  are  accordingly  required 
to  keep  their  accounts  and  make  annual  returns  in  such 
manner  and  form  as  the  board  may  require.  In  this  way 
more  definite  and  reliable  information  relative  to  these 
enterprises  has  been  secured  in  Massachusetts  than  any 
other  of  the  United  States.  Except  in  respect  to  their 
accounts  and  the  exhaustive  data  which  municipalities 
are  required  to  furnish  relative  to  the  business,  the 
authority  of  the  board  over  them  is  very  largely  advisory 
in  its  character. 

The  most  important  extension  of  the  board's  power 
since  1891  was  in  1894,  when  it  was  given  authority  to 
approve  the  issue  of  all  new  securities,  whether  stock 
or  bonds,  and  companies  were  prohibited  from  issuing 
such  except  upon  the  approval  of  the  board.  The  policy 
of  the  board  in  its  administration  has  been  to  prevent 
any  vvatering  of  the  stocks  of  the  companies  under  its 
supervision,  and,  to  a  remarkable  degree,  to  prevent  the 
securities  of  any  company  exceeding  the  fair  structural 
value  of  its  plant.  As  stated  by  the  board,  "This  act 
and  the  purposes  which  underlie  it  implj^  no  hostility  to 
corporate  powers,  and  it  is  the  duty  of  the  board  in  ad- 
ministering it  to  conserve,  so  far  as  it  may,  the  interests 
of  both  the  stockholder  and  the  public.     So  far  as  it  may 


Electrical    Handbook  2p 

properly  be  done,  the  board  should  encourage  and  assist 
investments  made  for  the  performance  of  a  needed  pub- 
lic service  rather  than  embarrass  or  injure  them.  The 
interests  of  the  public  and  the  stockholders  alike  are  best 
conserved  by  a  policy  which  will  give  permanency  and 
security  to  capital  thus  employed."'  This  statement 
affords  a  fair  indication  of  the  general  spirit  and  policy 
with  which  the  authority  intrusted  to  the  board  has  been 
exercised. 

Subsequently,  the  board  was  authorized,  upon  finding 
the  capital  of  a  company  impaired  when  approving  new 
securities,  to  require  the  company  to  make  good  such 
impairment  in  the  way  designated  by  the  board.  Under 
this,  companies  have  in  rare  cases  been  required  to  re- 
strict their  dividends  in  order  that  larger  sums  might  be 
available  out  of  earnings,  or  to  call  in  surplus  capital. 

Under  its  general  supervisory  powers  the  board  has 
in  a  great  number  of  cases  been  called  upon  to  arbitrate 
between  companies  and  customers  upon  matters  not 
specifically  mentioned  in  the  statutes ;  and  while  these 
cases  have  not  been  regarded  by  the  board  as  of  suffi- 
cient importance  to  be  described  in  its  annual  reports, 
this  course  has  contributed  in  a  very  large  measure  to 
establish  satisfactory  relations  between  the  companies 
and  the  consumers. 

The  board  makes  an  annual  report  to  the  Legislature 
which  gives  an  account  of  its  doings,  exhibits  to  a  very 
large  extent  the  financial  affairs  of  all  the  companie.s, 
and  contains  extensive  and  detailed  technical  informa- 
tion with  respect  to  them.  This  report  is  printed  by  the 
State,  and  finds  its  way  practically  to  all  portions  of  the 
world  where  active  interest  is  taken  in  the  supply  of  gas 
or  electricity  for  public  use. 

In  accordance  with  the  usual  Massachusetts  policy  of 
re-appointing  efficient  public  officers,  most  of  the  men  who 
have  been  members  of  the  board  have  served  for  several 
consecutive  terms.  The  present  chairman  has  occupied 
that  position  since  1894,  and  has  been  a  member  of  the 
board  from  its  beginning.  Another  one  of  the  members 
has  .served  for  more  than  ten  years.     By  this  policy  the 


JO  T he    B  0  s t on 

board  has  come  to  be  practically  a  commission  of  experts 
upon  the  subjects  under  its  control,  and  its  administration 
has  been  entirely  free  from  political  or  party  influence  of 
any  kind.  Its  purpose  has  been  to  deal  with  business 
questions  in  a  purely  business  way,  seeking  thus  to 
secure  fair  treatment  for  the  public  and  a  liberal  measure 
of  success  to  the  corporations  while  properly  managed. 

At  the  date  of  its  last  report,  the  board  had  under  its 
supervision  145  private  and  18  municipal  corporations. 
Of  the  companies,  48  are  engaged  in  the  supply  of  gas 
only,  25  in  the  supply  of  both  gas  and  electric  light,  and 
72  supply  only  electricity.  Of  the  m.unicipalities,  4  have 
plants  for  the  supply  of  gas  and  electricity,  and  the  other 
14  supply  electricity  only.  The  total  amount  invested  by 
these  corporations  is  about  seventy-five  million  dollars, 
and  their  gross  income  for  the  year  ending  June  30,  1903, 
was  about  seventeen  and  one-half  millions. 

The  Railway  Commissioners,  a  board  similarly  or- 
ganized, and  with  powers  almost  equally  large,  has 
proved  effective  in  guarding  the  interests  of  the  com- 
munity in  its  dealings  with  steam  and  electric  railways, 
and  in  giving  to  these  corporations  a  character  for  con- 
servatism and  stability  which  has,  in  the  end,  proved  of 
high  value  both  to  them  and  to  the  Commonwealth. 

With  many  of  the  problems  of  corporate  rights  and 
privileges  in  the  metropolitan  district,  the  Legislature 
deals  somewhat  directly,  and,  fully  realizing  the  peculiar 
interests  of  a  great  metropolitan  district,  it  has  not  hesi- 
tated at  any  step  which  would  improve  the  rapid  transit 
facilities  about  Greater  Boston,  and  which  would  give 
to  the  metropolitan  district  prompt  relief  in  any  exigency. 
The  city  of  Boston  proper  has  been  active  in  furthering 
the  interests  of  the  community  of  which  it  is  the  centre, 
and  in  perhaps  nothing  more  than  in  rapid  transit  has  it 
successfully  co-operated  with  the  Commonwealth  and 
with  private  corporations.  The  electric  railway  has  been 
of  unique  value  to  the  city  of  Boston,  in  welding  to- 
gether the  city  and  its  suburbs  into  a  coherent  commu- 
nity. At  the  present  time,  the  rapid  transit  of  Greater 
Boston,  developed  rapidly  by  the  springing  up  of  local 


Electrical    Handbook  ji 

enterprises,  has,  in  great  measure,  been  unified,  and  has 
come  to  be  largely  in  the  hands  of  a  very  few  important 
corporations.  Chief  among  these  is  the  Boston  Elevated 
Railway,  which  forms  the  centre  of  the  great  radiating 
network  of  electric  lines,  largely  under  its  own  control 
in  the  nearer  suburbs,  and  connecting  with  the  lines  of 
other  companies  beyond. 


THE    BOSTON    ELEVATED 
RAILWAY    COMPANT 


T'he  Boston  Elevated  Railway 
Company 

UNDER  the  control  of  this  corporation,  Boston 
lias  one  of  the  best  and  most  interesting  street 
railway  systems  to  be  found  on  the  continent. 
It  would  not  be  characteristic  of  Boston  if 
it  did  not  itself  possess  some  points  of  historical  interest. 
Here  the  trolley  car  was  first  demonstrated  to  be  suitable 
for  operation  in  a  large  city,  and  it  is  largely  due  to  the 
vast  sums  spent  in  determined  experimentation  by  the 
West  End  Street  Railway  Company  that  electricity  was 
made  a  practical  motive  power  for  street  cars.  Here 
the  first  subway  for  tram  cars  was  built.  Here  is  found 
the  first  and  only  existing  street  railway  service  in  which 
surface,  underground,  and  elevated  lines  are  combined 
in  a  single  comprehensive  system,  operated  so  that  all 
the  various  lines  and  different  kinds  of  ser\-ice  are  made 
CO  operative. 

Strangers  who  have  no  technical  knowledge  are 
chiefly  impressed  with  the  extensiveness  and  convenience 
of  the  service.  The  payment  of  a  single  5-cent  fare  en- 
ables a  passenger  to  reach  practically  any  point  witliin 
the  area  of  one  hundred  square  miles  served  by  the 
company.  Free  transfers  are  given  at  convenient  points, 
not  only  between  the  various  surface  lines,  but  between 
the  elevated,  surface,  and  underground  lines  whenever 
necessary.  It  is  possible  to  ride  a  distance  of  20  miles 
for  5  cents.  The  politeness  and  efficiency  of  the  em- 
ployees engaged  in  the  car  service  is  particularly  notice- 
able and  welcome  to  the  visitor. 

The  features  of  technical  interest  are  even  more  nu 

merous  and  important.     Tlie  topography  of  the  city,  its 

narrow  and  crooked  streets,  tlie  large  volume  of  traffic  to 

be  handled,  and  the  scarcity  of  highways  available  for  that 

35 


j6  T he    B  0 s  t  on 

purpose,  all  combine  to  produce  problems,  the  solution 
of  which  tax  the  ingenuity  of  operating  officials  to  the 
utmost.  The  company's  system  of  numerous  scattered 
power  stations,  instead  of  one  central  plant,  has  resulted 
in  an  economy  and  excellence  of  service  that  will  sur- 
prise many  of  the  advocates  of  the  single  station  idea. 
The  system  of  automatic  block-signals  is  said  to  be  the 
most  complete  and  efficient  in  existence,  and  has  amply 
proved  its  efficiency  by  giving  complete  immunity  from 
accidents.  The  elevated  and  subway  structures,  the 
plans  for  the  development  of  the  system  to  provide  for 
future  growth,  the  exceptional  excellence  of  road-bed, 
tracks,  special  work  and  equipment,  is  worthy  of  careful 
investigation  and  study.  The  system  of  selecting,  train- 
ing, and  disciplining  car  service  men  has  resulted  in  the 
production  of  so  exceptional  a  corps  of  street  railway 
operatives  that  it  will  be  found  highly  suggestive  and 
valuable  to  all  who  are  required  to  manage  large  numbers 
of  organized  men. 


THE   UPBUILDING   OF  THE   SURFACE   SYSTEM 

Street  cars  have  been  operated  in  Boston  for  more 
than  fifty  years,  but  it  was  not  until  1887  that  steps  were 
taken  to  adapt  the  street  railway  service  to  the  needs  of 
the  metropolitan  district,  of  which  Boston  is  the  centre. 
Prior  to  that  time  the  service  was  supplied  by  indepen- 
dent horse  car  lines  radiating  from  the  business  centre. 
There  were  no  through  lines,  and  few  free  transfers.  In 
1887  the  Legislature  authorized  the  consolidation  of  all 
but  one  of  the  street  railway  companies  in  Boston  into 
the  West  End  Street  Railway  Company.  This  consolida- 
tion marks  the  beginning  of  a  serious  study  of  the  broad 
transportation  problem  of  the  city.  It  resulted  in  a  com- 
prehensive and  coherent  surface  car  service  for  Boston 
and  its  residential  suburbs.  Through  lines  were  estab- 
lished connecting  suburbs  on  opposite  sides  of  the  city, 
fares  were  reduced,  the  interchange  of  traffic  between  the 
various  lines  was  facilitated,  and  in  many  other  ways  the 
public  was  provided  with  better  accommodations. 


Electrical    Handbook 


37 


The  president  of  the  company,  Mr.  Henry  M.  Whit- 
ney, immediately  sought  some  motive  power  better  for 
speed,  power,  and  economy  than  horses.     He  had  begun 


BOSTON        ELLVATtD        RAILWAY        SYSTEM 


The  Boston  Elevated  Railway  System 


the  installation  of  a  cable  system,  when  recent  develop- 
ments in  the  use  of  electricity  were  called  to  his  atten- 
tion, and  with  a  fine  foresight  he  so  promptly  appreci- 


j8  The    Boston 

ated  its  possibilities  that  the  cable  project  was  abandoned, 
and  electrical  equipment  substituted. 

The  first  electric  line,  opened  January  i,  1889,  ex- 
tended between  Brookline  and  Boston,  and  was  equipped 
in  part  with  overhead  trolley  wire,  and  in  part  with  an 
underground  conduit  system.  The  conduit  portion 
proved  unsatisfactory,  and  after  several  months'  trial 
was  abandoned,  and  later  replaced  with  a  trolle;)  system. 
On  the  i6th  of  February,  of  the  same  year,  the  first 
complete  trolley  line,  between  Cambridge  and  Boston, 
was  placed  in  operation,  and  gave  satisfaction  from  the 
start.  The  first  equipment  was  crude,  but  experiments 
on  a  large  scale  were  made,  costing,  in  the  total,  more 
than  a  million  dollars;  and  in  due  time  the  experimental 
stage  was  passed,  and  the  trolley  system  of  operati^ii 
became  a  demonstrated  success. 

With  the  installation  of  electrical  equipment  great 
improvements  in  the  service  were  made,  and  large  plans 
calculated  to  provide  for  future  development  were  de- 
vised. Lines  were  extended  into  the  suburbs,  quicker 
time  was  made,  larger  and  better  cars  were  bought,  fares 
were  reduced,  and  free  transfer  privileges  were  con- 
siderably extended. 

In  1897  the  entire  West  End  system  was  leased  to 
the  Boston  Elevated  Railway  Company.  During  the 
same  year  the  subway  was  opened  for  traiTic  and  a  new 
era  began.  Trunk  lines  of  high  speed  and  large  capa- 
city were  planned  to  carry  the  bulk  of  the  traffic  above 
or  below  the  public  streets  to  points  beyond  congested 
and  dense  street  traffic,  there  to  be  distributed  by  surface 
cars  in  the  residential  suburbs.  The  part  to  be  played 
by  the  surface  lines  in  the  rapid  transit  system  that  is 
being  worked  out,  is  to  carry  passengers  between  out- 
lying districts  and  the  terminals  of  the  trunk  lines,  and 
also  to  supply  an  accommodation  service  to  and  through 
the  business  district. 

THE   TREMONT  STREET  SUBWAY 

Of  the  rapid  transit  structures,  the  first  to  be  built 
was  the  Tremont  Street  subway.     It  was  planned  and 


Electrical    Handbook  3Q 

constructed  under  the  direction  of  a  public  commission 
called  the  Boston  Transit  Commission,  at  a  cost  of 
about  ;5!4,ooo,ooo.  It  was  authorized  in  1894  and  opened 
in  1897.  It  is  owned  by  the  city  of  Boston,  leased  to 
the  West  End  Company,  and  subleased  to  the  Boston 
Elevated  Railway  Company.  It  was  not  planned  for 
high  speed  service,  but  was  designed  and  used  origi- 
nally for  surface  cars  exclusively.  Its  principal  purpose 
was  to  relieve  the  business  district  of  the  city  from 
excessive  congestion  by  street  cars,  teams,  and  pedes- 
trians. So  many  cars  were  being  operated  on  Wash- 
ington and  Tremont  Streets  that  they  blocked  each 
other,  and  rendered  it  impossible  to  provide  an  efficient 
service.  Greater  carrying  capacity  was  imperative,  and 
increasing  the  number  of  cars  upon  these  streets  was 
clearly  impossible.  It  was  therefore  decided  that  the 
best  way  to  meet  this  situation  was  to  build  an  under- 
ground railway. 

The  engineers  who  designed  the  subway  had  no 
model  to  follow,  but  were  obliged  to  depend  entirely 
upon  their  ability  to  foresee  the  conditions  and  require- 
ments of  a  new  kind  of  service.  The  subway  was 
equipped  with  three  sets  of  tracks,  —  a  through  track  and 
two  loops.  The  through  tracks,  —  now  used  for  elevated 
trains,  provide  transportation  across  the  business  and 
shopping  district;  while  the  Park  Street  and  Scollav 
Square  loops  enable  cars  from  the  west  and  north 
respectively,  to  reach  this  district  at  the  subway  stations 
for  which  they  are  named,  where  the  cars  pass  around 
looped  tracks  and  return. 

THE   ELEVATED   RAILWAY   PROJECT 

The  construction  of  both  subway  and  elevated  railway 
was  authorized  in  the  same  legislative  enactment  in  1S94. 
The  two  structures  together  provide  the  road-bed  for 
the  elevated  trains.  It  may,  therefore,  surprise  those 
unacquainted  with  the  facts  to  learn  that  they  were 
originally  two  separate  and  independent  enterprises.  At 
the  time  the  legislation  was  passed,  the  public  demand 


^o  The    Boston 

was  for  an  elevated  road.  The  subway  idea  was  not 
popular.  The  Legislature,  however,  combined  the  two 
schemes  in  one,  and  authorized  both. 

The  old  charter  for  the  elevated  road  originally 
authorized  the  construction  of  an  elevated  railway  of 
the  Meigs  type,  but  the  project  failed  to  attract  financial 
support.  It  was  believed  that  an  elevated  railway  could 
not  be  made  profitable,  as  it  would  be  at  a  serious  disad- 
vantage in  a  competition  with  the  excellent  service 
given  by  the  West  End  Company.  Besides  this,  there 
was  a  lack  of  confidence  in  the  novel  and  untried  Meigs 
plan  of  operation,  with  its  peculiar  type  of  car  running 
on  a  single  rail.  For  these  reasons  the  elevated  charter 
lay  dormant  in  the  hands  of  the  original  incorporators. 

In  1896  a  number  of  local  bankers  and  business  men 
conceived  a  plan  for  giving  Boston  not  only  its  desired 
elevated  railway,  but  a  better  and  larger  service  than  had 
hitherto  been  attempted.  The  plan  was  to  purchase  the 
unused  charter  of  the  Meigs  company;  to  secure  amend- 
ments that  would  eliminate  the  doubtful  Meigs  system  of 
operation;  to  obtain  a  lease  of  the  West  End  system, 
and  to  unite  the  surface  lines,  the  subway,  and  an  ele- 
vated railway  in  one  system.  How  all  this  was  accom- 
plished forms  an  interesting  chapter  in  the  history  of 
local  progress,  but  it  is  enough  to  say  here  that  the  plan 
was  successfully  carried  out;  and  in  1897,  the  year  the 
subway  was  opened,  the  Boston  Elevated  Railway  Com- 
pany assumed  the  operation  of  the  local  street  railway 
system,  and  began  to  plan  the  details  of  its  elevated 
road,  which  was  opened  for  business  on  June  10,  1901. 

The  general  plan  of  the  elevated  railway  is  easy  of 
comprehension.  The  traffic  is  principally  between  a 
central  business  district  and  an  outlying  residential  terri- 
tory. The  business  district  is  bordered  on  the  east  by 
the  harbor  and  on  the  west  for  a  considerable  distance 
by  an  open  pubHc  park  known  as  the  Common.  The 
principal  highways  and  the  lines  of  travel  necessarily  run 
north  and  south.  The  more  important  streets  in  and 
leading  to  the  business  section  are  crowded  with  a  con- 
gestion of  street  traffic.     With  these  things  in  view,  the 


Electrical    Hand  b  o  o  k  41 

elevated  railway  was  therefore  constructed  between 
points  north  and  south  of  the  centre  of  traffic  and  be- 
yond the  congested  territory. 

The  subway  solved  a  serious  difficulty  by  providing 
a  possible,  although  unsatisfactory,  road-bed  upon  which 
elevated  trains  could  be  run  through  a  portion  of  the  city 
where  it  would  not  be  feasible  to  build  an  elevated 
structure  on  account  of  the  large  sums  that  would  be 
required  for  the  settlement  of  land  damage  claims.  By 
utilizing  the  subway  in  connection  with  the  elevated 
structure  a  high  speed  service  is  supplied  that  skirts  the 
business  area  and  extends  both  north  and  south  to  the 
suburban  territory,  in  which  the  service  is  supplied  by 
radiating  surface  lines  connecting  with  the  elevated  rail- 
way at  its  terminals. 

Briefly  stated,  the  present  functions  of  the  elevated 
lines  are  to  take  the  long  distance  north  and  south  traffic 
out  of  the  public  streets  and  to  carry  it  beyond  the  con- 
gested territory,  and  also  to  supply  a  fast  service  of  large 
carrying  capacity  where  the  traffic  is  greater  than  can  be 
accommodated  by  surface  cars. 

THE   RAPID    TRANSIT    SYSTEM 

As  has  already  been  stated,  the  territory  in  which  the 
company  supplies  all  of  the  street  railway  service  is 
about  100  square  miles  in  area  and  contains  a  population 
of  upwards  of  1,000,000.  Besides  the  city  of  Boston,  it 
includes  the  whole  or  portions  of  eleven  other  cities  and 
towns.  Cars  from  outside  companies  are  operated  upon 
lines  connecting  with  the  elevated  train  service  at  the 
terminals,  and  at  the  Park  .Street  subway  station  by 
means  of  these  cars  passengers  are  able  to  reach  places 
at  a  considerable  distance  from  Boston  without  a  change 
of  car.  From  Park  Square  a  line  of  high  speed  cars  is 
operated  to  the  city  of  Worcester,  situated  about  50  miles 
to  the  west.  At  the  Sullivan  Square  terminal  there  are 
cars  to  be  taken  to  the  city  of  Lowell,  26  miles  to  the 
northwest.  The  system  is  laid  out  on  the  radial  plan. 
A  corresponding  service  east  and  west  will  be  supplied 


42  T  he    B  o  sto  n 

in  the  near  future.  A  tunnel  extending  eastward,  under 
a  portion  of  Boston  Harbor,  connecting  the  business  dis- 
trict with  an  important  island  called  East  Boston,  is 
nearly  completed.  This  line  will  probably  be  open  for 
business  during  the  present  year.  It  is  of  interest  to 
note  that  at  the  point  where  the  tunnel  passes  underneath 
the  elevated  structure,  the  company  will  supply  trans- 
portation at  three  different  levels.  A  deep  tunnel  station 
is  being  completed  at  the  junction  of  State  Street  and 
Atlantic  Avenue.  Above  this  station,  upon  the  street 
surface,  trolley  cars  are  being  operated.  Over  the  street 
the  elevated  structure  extends,  and  transfers  may  be 
obtained  at  this  point  between  the  different  lines  operating 
in  all  directions. 

The  rapid  transit  trunk  line  to  the  west  will  be  built, 
in  the  relatively  near  future,  from  Scollay  Square  to  or 
near  Harvard  Square  in  the  city  of  Cambridge,  the  seat 
of  Harvard  University.  This  structure  will  consist  of  a 
subway  at  the  Boston  end  and  an  elevated  railway  in 
Cambridge.  It  will  cross  the  Charles  River  on  a  large 
and  handsome  bridge  now  in  process  of  construction. 

The  Tremont  Street  subway  has  been  found  so  poorly 
adapted  to  the  requirements  of  an  elevated  train  service 
that  a  new  underground  hne  is  to  be  built  under  Washing- 
ton Street  for  the  accommodation  of  elevated  trains.  The 
present  subway  contains  one  eighth  per  cent  down  grade, 
and  two  up  and  two  down  grades  of  five  per  cent,  besides 
numerous  sharp  curves.  Station  platforms  are  in  some 
cases  built  on  curves,  and  are  too  short  to  accommodate 
the  increasing  volume  of  travel.  The  Washington  Street 
tunnel  may  be  said  to  be  fairly  under  way,  as  plans  for  a 
portion  of  the  structure  have  been  made,  and  some  of  the 
land  takings  effected.  Tlie  tracks  in  this  tunnel  will  be 
very  nearly  straight,  the  grades  easy,  and  the  stations 
designed  so  that  platforms  of  sufficient  length  to  accom- 
modate eight  car  trains  can  be  built.  Upon  the  com- 
pletion of  the  W^ashington  Street  tunnel  the  elevated 
trains  will  be  removed  from  the  Tremont  Street  subway, 
and  tlie  tracks  now  used  by  the  elevated  trains  will  be 
restored  to  their  former  use  by  the  surface  cars. 


Electrical    Handbook  ^j 

Another  underground  line  has  been  authorized,  cross- 
ing the  business  district  in  a  north  and  south  direction, 
to  be  built  for  the  use  of  surface  cars  whenever  it  shall 
become  necessary. 


THE   ELEVATED   ROADWAY 

The  elevated  roadway  was  designed  and  built  under 
the  direction  of  Mr.  George  A.  Kimball,  Chief  Engineer. 
It  was  a  little  over  two  years  in  building,  and  was  opened 
to  traffic  June  lo,  1901.  It  cost  approximately  $400,000 
per  mile  outside  of  stations  and  land  damage  expense. 
The  distance  between  the  terminals  by  way  of  Atlantic 
Avenue  is  5.4  miles.  The  longest  distance  between  sta- 
tions is  between  Sullivan  Square  and  Thompson  Square 
in  Charlestown,  and  measures  5.605  feet  or  1.06  miles, 
while  the  shortest  stretch  of  track  between  stations  lies 
between  State  Street  and  Rowe's  Wharf  on  the  Atlantic 
Avenue  line,  and  measures  988  feet  or  .1S9  miles.  In  the 
track  layout  there  are  6.644  miles  of  main  track,  6.46S 
miles  of  second  track,  and  2.903  miles  of  siding,  switches, 
cross-overs,  etc.,  making  a  total  of  16.015  miles  of  track 
for  elevated  operation. 

The  minimum  distance  between  the  pavement  and 
running  rail  is  at  Dudley  Street,  where  it  is  20  feet.  The 
highest  point  is  in  Charlestown,  at  the  junction  of  Main 
and  Bunker  Hill  Streets,  where  the  running  rail  is  39  feet 
6  inches  above  the  level  of  the  street. 

The  tracks  are  laid  12  feet  apart  on  centres.  The 
running  rail  is  standard  A.  S.  C.  E.  section  "T"  rail, 
and  weighs  85  pounds  to  the  yard.  The  third  rail  is  of  the 
same  pattern  and  weight  and  chemical  composition  as 
the  running  rail,  except  in  the  subway  opposite  stations, 
where  a  special  rail  is  used.  The  guard  rail  is  Pennsyl- 
vania Steel  Company's,  .Section  No.  1 16,  weighing  100  lbs. 
to  the  yard.  Guard  timbers  are  bolted  to  the  ties  both 
inside  and  outside  of  the  running  rail.  The  inside  guard 
timber  is  4  inches  and  the  outside  one  lol  inches  from 
the  gauge  of  the  running  rail.  The  centre  of  the  third 
rail  is  19J  inches  from  the  centre  of  the  running  rail.   The 


/f./f.  T  he    B  0  s  ton 

rails  lie  on  Goldie  tie  plates,  and  are  fastened  by  5.V  in.  x 
/s  in.  spikes  of  the  Lehigh  Valley  R.R.  pattern  to  ties 
of  hard  pine  on  the  elevated  structure  and  of  chestnut 
in  the  subway,  and  are  laid  16  inches  on  centres  in  the 
former,  and  20  inches  in  the  latter  case. 

ELEVATED  STRUCTURE  AND  CONSTRUCTION 

The  elevated  structure  is  built  of  medium  steel,  sup- 
ported on  steel  posts  resting  on  a  foundation  of  con- 
crete. In  general,  the  foundations  commence  10  or  12 
feet  below  the  surface  of  the  ground,  this  depth  being 
considered  necessary  for  the  requisite  stability,  and  to 
provide  against  the  danger  of  being  undermined  by  the 
ordinary  excavations  made  in  the  streets  and  sidewalks 
for  sewers,  conduits,  foundations  for  buildings,  or  other 
excavations  which  are  frequent  in  city  streets.  They 
are  built  of  Portland  cement  concrete,  laid  in  courses 
about  two  feet  thick,  the  first  course  being  of  such 
dimensions  as  are  necessary  to  distribute  properly  the 
load  on  the  earth  or  piles,  varying  from  6  feet  square 
in  hard  material  to  12  or  more  in  soft  material.  The 
courses  are  gradually  diminished  in  size,  the  upper 
course  being  4^  feet  square,  on  which  is  set  a  cast- 
iron  pedestal ;  soft  steel  anchor  rods  6  ft.  2  in.  x  if  in.  are 
embedded  in  the  concrete  and  pass  through  the  pedestal ; 
and  lugs  on  the  steel  posts  where  they  are  fastened  by 
nuts,  are  afterwards  embedded  in  concrete.  Where  piles 
are  necessary,  they  are  driven  in  such  number  and  to  such 
depth  as  to  give  a  stable  and  safe  foundation,  and  are 
cut  off  at  a  grade  5  feet  above  mean  low  water,  or  as 
much  lower  as  necessary  to  get  below  the  ground  water 
level. 

In  the  design,  provision  was  made  for  the  dead  load 
of  structure  and  track  system,  and  for  a  live  load  of 
50-ton  cars,  each  40  ft.  long.  The  cars  which  are  actually 
operated  on  this  structure  weigh  about  30  tons  empty,  or 
about  36  tons  crowded,  and  are  46  ft.  loi  in.  in  length 
over  all.  In  designing  the  structure,  it  was  considered 
best  to  make  provision  for  much  heavier  rolling  stock 


Electrical    Handbook 


45 


than  is  now  used,  as  it  is  possible  that  future  develop- 
ments in  methods  of  transportation  may  call  for  a  loco- 
motive system,  or  for  cars  that  are  much  heavier  than 
those  now  in  use. 

The  stresses  allowed  in  the  concrete  are  as  follows: 
Compressive,  varying  with  the  different  grades  of  con- 
crete from  300  lbs.  to  450  lbs.  per  square  inch.  Tensile, 
not  in  excess  of  30  lbs.  per  square  inch.     The  ma.ximum 


L 

Sullivan  Square  Terminal,  B.  E.  Ry.  Co. 


tension  in  the  anchor  bolts  is  16.000  lbs.  per  square  inch. 
As  the  abutting  power  of  the  earth  in  resistance  to  hori- 
zontal forces  has  been  neglected,  the  allowed  tension  in 
offsets  for  the  bottom  course  and  at  the  ba.se  of  the  anchor 
course,  though  in  general  not  over  30  lbs.  per  square  inch, 
has  been  as  high  as  35  lbs.,  and  in  a  few  instances  40  lbs. 
The  concrete  was  composed  of  American  Portland 
cement,  broken  stone  and  sand,  usually  mixed  in  the  pro- 


^6  T he    B 0 ston 

portion  ot  i  part  cement,  2\  parts  sand,  and  5  parts 
broken  stone  ;  but  in  practice  the  concrete  for  the  lower 
courses  was  frequently  mixed  in  the  proportion  of  1,3, 
and  6,  and  for  the  upper  course  a  richer  mixture  of  i,  i, 
and  3  was  used.  The  difference  in  the  mixture  was  made 
on  account  of  the  difference  in  pressure  per  square  inch 
between  the  lower  and  upper  courses.  The  number  of 
foundations  built  in  the  streets  was  1,133,  ^"d  of  these 
about  one-half  cost  ^260  each  in  round  figures,  or  )?9.50 
per  linear  foot  of  double  track  structure.  The  remainder 
averaged  about  ^700  each,  or  ^25.50  per  linear  foot  of 
double  track  structure,  the  increased  cost  being  due  to 
soft  ground  and  interference  with  underground  structures. 
These  gross  figures  include  the  cost  of  pedestal  castings, 
anchor  castings  and  anchor  bolts,  all  of  which  were  fur- 
nished by  the  company,  averaging  322.30  per  foundation, 
also  the  cost  of  removing  underground  structures  (paid 
directly  to  other  corporations),  averaging  518.30  per  pier. 
The  additional  cost  of  concreting  around  the  foot  of  each 
post  and  structure,  and  protecting  it  with  wheel  guards 
is  not  included  in  the  figures. 

On  account  of  the  crooked  streets  with  varying  widths, 
many  different  designs  of  structure  are  used.  The  upper 
section  weighs  1,060  lbs.  per  lineal  foot,  the  middle,  1,105 
lbs.,  and  the  lower,  1.447  l^^s.  The  floor  system  con.sists 
of  cross-ties  of  Southern  pine,  7  ins.  by  8  ins.  by  8  ft. 
long,  laid  16  ins.  on  centres,  and  lapped  i  in.  on  the  steel 
girder.  Two  inside  6  in.  by  6  in.,  and  two  outside  6  in. 
by  9  in.,  hard  Southern  pine  timbers  are  laid,  parallel 
with  tlie  rail  as  guards.  The  running  rail,  as  already 
mentioned,  is  85  lbs.  T.  American  Society  of  Civil 
Engineers'  standard.  On  curves  of  400  ft.  radius  or  less, 
a  high  100  lbs.  guard  rail  is  used,  which  is  bolted  to  the 
running  rail,  and  further  supported  by  the  rail  braces. 
The  elevated  stations  are  provided  with  island  or  inter- 
track  platforms  160  ft.  in  length.  The  buildings  and 
canopies  over  the  platforms  at  the  way-stations  are  built 
of  steel  covered  with  copper.  The  platform  floors  are  of 
Southern  hard  pine  timber,  resting  upon  steel  girders, 
and  the  stairwavs  are  of  steel  and  cast  iron. 


Electrical    Handbook  47 


ELEVATED  RAILWAY  OPERATION 

Between  the  two  terminals  of  the  elevated  lines, 
trains  are  operated  in  both  directions  by  way  of  the 
subway.  From  each  of  the  terminals  a  loop  service  is 
maintained  in  each  direction  through  the  subway  and 
Atlantic  Avenue  lines.  This  arrangement  enables  pas- 
sengers to  reach  any  elevated  or  subway  stations  by 
means  of  the  elevated  trains. 

The  shortest  headway  between  trains  from  the  ter- 
minals is  two  minutes.  Ten  trains  pass  the  signal  towers 
every  six  minutes  at  the  junction  of  the  terminal  lines 
with  the  Atlantic  Avenue  circuit  during  the  period  of 
shortest  headway.  During  the  rush  hours  thirty-four 
trains  are  in  service  on  the  elevated  structure  at  the  same 
time.  The  trains  consist  of  three  cars  during  hours  of 
light  riding,  and  four  cars  during  "rush  hours"  when  the 
patronage  is  highest,  the  rear  car  of  each  train  being  a 
smoking  car.     The  average  daily  mileage  is  20,000. 

Free  transfers,  without  the  use  of  transfer  checks, 
may  be  made  between  the  elevated  trains  and  connecting 
surface  cars  operating  on  tracks  at  the  same  level  with 
the  elevated  trains  at  each  terminal,  and  at  the  Park 
street  and  Boylston  stations  in  the  subway.  At  the 
Sullivan  Square  Terminal  the  surface  cars  connect  with 
five  suburban  cities  and  towns  ;  at  Dudley  street,  with 
two.  and  at  Park  street  and  Boylston  street,  with  seven. 
The  population  thus  served  amounts  to  approximately 
one  million.  The  cars  of  other  companies  operating  in 
districts  lying  beyond  the  Elevated's  territory,  and  giving 
access  to  the  whole  of  eastern  New  P-ngland,  run  to  each 
of  the  terminals  and  to  the  Park  street  subway  station. 
At  each  of  the  twenty-two  stations  free  transfers  are 
given  between  the  elevated  and  surface  lines. 

An  average  of  over  100.000  passengers  are  handled 
daily  at  each  terminal,  and  about  60.000  each  at  the  Boyls- 
ton street  and  the  Park  street  subway  stations.  During 
the  evening  rush  hours,  an  average  of  .S.500  passengers  per 
hour  arrive  at  each  terminal  by  train.  Twenty-six  thou- 
sand  passengers    have   been    admitted    at   an   "island" 


4-8  The   Boston 

station  in  one  day,  the  station  being  attended  by  two 
ticket  sellers  and  two  ticket  choppers.  The  station  slops 
average  twelve  seconds  on  the  structure,  and  twenty  in 
the  subway.  The  paying  passengers  carried  on  the 
whole  Boston  system  last  year  reached  the  enormous 
total  of  233,563,578 ;  and  the  car-miles  footed  up  to  47,- 
688,487. 

BLOCK    SIGNALS 

A  feature  of  the  elevated  system  is  its  very  complete 
and  successful  equipment  with  positive  block  signals. 
In  this  it  has  followed  and  improved  upon  current 
steam  railway  practice,  and  this  valuable  innovation  has 
resulted  in  remarkable  operative  success,  and  in  a  feeling 
of  entire  security  on  the  part  of  the  public  that  is  most 
gratifying  and  unusual. 

The  block  signals  of  the  Boston  Elevated  Railway  are 
electro-pneumatic;  that  is,  the  motive  power  is  air  con- 
trolled electrically. 

The  electric  power  and  compressed  air  are  furnislied 
by  small  motor  generator  sets  and  compressors,  located 
at  suitable  distril)ution  points  along  the  hne.  Tlie  cur- 
rent is  supplied  at  100  volts  and  the  air  at  85  lbs.  pressure 
per  square  inch. 

As  in  steam  railroad  practice,  a  "track  circuit"  is 
used,  one  rail  of  the  track  being  given  up  to  the  signal 
system.  This  rail  is  divided  into  block  sections  by  in- 
sulating joints.  At  one  end  of  a  block  section,  current 
is  supplied  to  this  rail,  passing  along  the  rail  to  the  other 
end  of  the  block,  through  the  relay,  which  controls  the 
signal  movement,  back  to  the  other  rail,  returning  along 
it  to  the  other  end  of  the  block  and  the  other  pole  of  the 
current  supply.  If  there  is  no  train  in  the  block,  current 
thus  supplied  to  the  relay  energizes  it ;  the  relay,  in  its 
turn,  admits  compressed  air  to  the  signal  operating  cyl- 
inder by  means  of  a  magnetic  valve,  and  the  signal  is 
put  to  "clear"  position.  When  a  train  enters  the  block, 
the  relay  is  short  circuited  by  the  wheels  and  axles,  being 
thus  de-energized  ;  the  compressed  air  is  shut  off  from 


Electrical    Handbook  4p 

the  signal   and    it  goes   to  ''Danger''  by  means  of  its 
counter-weight. 

The  system  as  a  whole  is  unique  in  being  the  first 
track  circuit  system  to  be  installed  on  an  electric  road, 
itself  using  the  rails  as  a  return  path  for  the  car  motor 
currents.  As  the  tendency  of  this  return  current  is,  un- 
der certain  conditions,  to  energize  the  relays,  even  with  a 
train  in  the  block,  thus  giving  a  clear  signal,  although 
the  block  might  be  occupied,  special  precautions  had  to 
be  taken  ;  the  return  copper  for  the  car-motor  current  had 
to  be  sufficient  to  keep  the  return  drop  per  signal  block 
low,  the  relays  had  to  be  so  adjusted  as  to  respond  only 
to  a  voltage  higher  than  could  ever  be  reached  from  the 
action  of  these  return  currents,  and  the  track  circuit 
voltage  had  to  be  kept  high. 

In  steam  railroad  practice  the  usual  track  circuit  vol- 
tage is  that  of  one  gravity  cell  —  about  one  volt  —  while 
on  this  road,  it  is  kept  up  to  from  fifteen  to  twenty  volts. 
Although  the  electric  power  required  is,  from  a  steam 
railroad  signal  engineer's  point  of  view,  extreme,  being 
ICO  watts  per  block,  as  against  the  usual  o.i  watt  per 
block  used  by  steam  railroads,  this  is  of  little  importance, 
as  electric  power  is  so  plentiful  and  readily  available  on 
electric  roads. 

Another  thing  to  be  guarded  against  in  this  installa- 
tion, was  the  possibility  of  the  car-motor  current  passing 
back  through  the  signal  rail  and  relay  instead  of  through 
the  other  common  grounded  rail,  which  would  be  the 
ca.se  if  the  car  wheels  for  any  reason  became  insulated 
from  this  grounded  rail,  as  might  be  the  case  in  the  pres- 
ence of  sand,  snow,  or  sleet.  To  guard  against  this,  the 
relay  is  made  polarized,  the  field  coils  are  energized  from 
the  track  rails,  as  described  above,  while  the  armature 
coils  are  energized  with  a  constant  polarity  direct  from 
the  signal  supply  mains.  Under  normal  conditions  the 
polarities  of  the  field  coils  and  armature  coils  are  such 
that  the  armature  swings  to  the  right,  closing  the  magnet 
valve  circuit.  If,  however,  owing  to  sand,  snow,  or 
sleet,  the  return  current  from  the  car  motors  fails  to  get 
its  trround  on  the  common  return  rail,  and  tries  to  find  a 


50 


The    Boston 


ground  tlirough  the  relay  field  coils,  which  are  connected 
to  the  block  rails,  they  become  energized  in  the  reverse 
direction,  the  armature  is  directed  to  the  left  instead  of 
to  the  right,  the  circuit  to  the  magnet  valve  remains  open, 
and  the  signal  stays  at  "  Danger." 

The  automatic  stop  was  first  systematically  applied 
in  this  installation.     This  automatic  stop  is  a  T-sliaped 


Automatic   Stup   for  Air-brakes 


piece  of  iron,  which  is  mechanically  connected  to  the 
signal,  and  rises  alongside  and  above  one  of  the  running 
rails,  when  the  signal  is  at  "  Danger."  If  a  car  goes  by  the 
signal  under  these  conditions,  the  stop  engages  with  the 
handle   of  a  valve  in   the   train  pipe  of  the  air    brake 


Electrical    II  and  ho  ok  5/ 

system  and  causes  an  emergency  application  of  the 
brakes. 

There  are  ninety-five  track  circuits  on  the  road  ;  most 
of  these  control  the  ordinary  block  signals,  the  remainder 
being  used  to  safeguard  interlocking  signals.  The  short- 
est block  is  297  feet  long,  and  the  longest  1,997  feet. 

All  the  block  signal  equipment  and  the  five  interlock- 
ing towers  are  of  the  standard  Westinghouse  electro- 
pneumatic  type.  The  system  has  proved  highly  efficient, 
the  failures  to  operate  from  any  cause  whatsoever  have 
averaged  only  about  one  failure  for  from  twenty-five  to 
thirty  thousand  movements,  and  a  large  proportion  of 
these  few  failures  have  been  from  the  grounding  of  the 
signal  rail  to  the  ironwork  of  the  structure.  There  has 
never  been  a  collision  between  trains  in  service,  or  of 
trains  on  the  road  —  the.  whole  road  outside  of  the  yards 
being  protected  by  either  block  or  interlocking  signals. 

CAR    EQUIPMENT 

To  give  the  technical  reader  a  clear  idea  of  the  exact 
material  in  roiling  stock  necessary  for  the  successful 
JKindling  of  the  great  and  rapidly  increasing  traffic  of  the 
elevated  railway  proper,  the  following  .schedule  of  equip- 
ment is  appended.  It  is  far  greater  in  amount  than  was 
at  first  aiiticipated  from  the  data  available,  and  is  stead- 
ily upon  the  increase. 

174  passenger  cars  Passenger  car  bodies  built 

I  wrecking  car  •      by  Wason  Mfg.  Co.         53 

I  construction  car  St.  Louis  Car  Co.                99 

I  tool  car  Osgood  Bradley  Car  Co.     22 
3  Hat  cars 

180  total  number  of  cars. 

Measurements  of  Passenger  Cars. 

46'  io|"  length  over  draw  bars. 

8'  gi"  width  over  drip  boards. 

8'  7f"  widtii  across  platforms. 

3'  8"    running  rail  to  top  of  platform. 

32'  2\"  between  truck  centres. 

37'  (•>"    length  inside  car. 

12'  5"    height  of  car. 


^2  T he    B  0 s t  on 

5'    6"  wheel  base  of  trailer  truck. 

6'  wheel  base  of  motor  truck. 

4'  width  of  middle  door. 

3I"  between  platform  and  centre. 

Weight  of  car  light,  59,090  lbs.  or  29.55  tons. 

Weight  of  car  loaded,  72.090  lbs.  or         36.         " 
Percentage  of  weight  on  motor  trucks,  63.45 
Seating  capacity,  48. 
All  cars  carry  fire  extinguishers. 

Motors:  200  Westinghouse  50-C,  150  H.P. 

Gear  ratio  50 :  21  =  2.38. 
100  Westinghouse  50-E,  150  H.P. 

Gear  ratio  54  :  17  =  3.18. 
48  Gen.  Electric  68-f:,  170  H.  P. 

Gear  ratio  59:  18  =  3.28. 

Trucks:  104  Baldwin;  Cradle  motor  suspension  on  150 

cars. 
50   Brill ;        .Swinging  link  nose  suspension  on 

24  cars. 
21  Curtis. 

Wheels:  Cast  steel,  cast  iron  and  wrought  iron  centres. 
34-inch  steel  tires  on  motor  wheels,  and  31 -inch  steel 
tires  on  trailer  wheels.  Use  Krupp,  Latrobe,  .Stan- 
dard, and  Mid  vale  tires. 

Each  tire  is  ground  about  once  every   two  weeks. 
About  48  pairs  ground  per  day.     This  excessive  wear 
is  mostly  caused  by  numerous  curves  on  line. 
Life  of  tires  is  from  2i-  to  3  years. 
Motor  truck  axle  is  b\",  ']\"  in  wheel  and  gear  fit, 

4I"  X  8"  at  journal. 
Trailer  truck  axle  is  5^",  M.  C.  B., 

3~3i"  X  7"  at  journal. 

Air  Brake:  Christensen  system.  2  compressors.  Chri.s- 
tensen  motorman's  valve. 

24  new  cars  equipped  with  New  York  triple  valves. 
All  cars  equipped  with  automatic  trip  and  emergency 
valve. 

Control:  150  cars  equipped  with  Sprague  Multiple  Unit 
Automatic    Control    (cylindrical;;   24   cars  equipped 
with  Sprague-General    Electric   Multiple  Unit  Auto- 
matic Control  (contactor  system). 
Approximate  maximum  .speed,  45  miles  per  hour. 
Schedule  speed  averages  18  miles  per  hour. 
Average  k.  w.  hours  per  car  mile,  4.0. 


Electrical    Handbook  jj 

ELEVATED    DIVISION 
Repair  Shops 

The  machine  shop  of  repair  shop  is  equipped  with  : 
1  Putnam  90"  double  head  lathe. 
I  Putnam  36"  tire  truing  lathe. 
4  Springfield  wheel  grinders. 
I  Putnam  300-ton  wheel  press. 
I  Colhurn  key-way  cutter. 
I  Chicago  Pneumatic  Tool  Go's  i\  ton  pneumatic  geared 

hoist, 
i  15-ton  electric  travelling  crane — 40  ft.  span  (Cleveland). 
1  6  ton  hand  travelling  crane,  with  air  hoist. 
1  25-ton  Otis  plunger  elevator. 
I  Niles  60"  radial  drill. 
I  6-ton  stationary  air  hoist. 
I  20-inch  shaper  (Cincinnati) 
I  iS-inch  lathe  (La  Blond). 
I  Pond  42-inch  wheel  lathe. 

All  large  tools  are  motor  driven. 

An  Ingersoll-Sergeant  motor  compressor  furnishes 
compressed  air  for  forges,  hoists,  pneumatic  hammers, 
and  testing  apparatus. 

Kails  and  turntables  are  laid  in  machine  shop  floor 
for  economical  movement  of  trucks  and  wheels. 


THE   SELECTION    AND   TRAINING   OF    EMPLOYEES 

The  system  of  selecting  men  for  employment  in  the 
car  service  is  elaborate  and  efficient.  The  company  is 
exacting  in  its  requirements.  Applicants  whose  general 
appearance  is  slovenly  or  unprepossessing  are  dismissed 
summarily,  while  those  whose  neatness,  address,  and  ap- 
parent intelligence  commend  them  are  subjected  to  a 
preliminary  examination  and  to  various  tests  to  deter- 
mine whether  or  not  they  meet  the  requirements  of  the 
service. 

These  requirements  are,  in  brief,  that  the  applicant 
must  be  not  less  than  twenty-one  years  nor  more  than 
thirty-five  years  of  age  for  elevated  service,  nor  more 
than  forty-five  years  of  age  for  surface-car  service.  His 
eyesight  must  be  perfect.  This  is  tested  by  the  usual 
methods  employed  by  oculists  in  fitting  glasses,  and  the 


5^  T  h  e    B  0  s  I  o  n 

slightest  defect  in  eitlier  eye  is  an  absolute  bar  to  furtlier 
consideration.  His  hearing  must  likewise  be  perfect, 
and  the  applicant  is  required  to  nod  his  head  in  response 
to  the  clicks  of  a  device  that  is  sounded  at  varying  dis- 
tances and  from  different  directions  as  a  test  for  the 
quickness  and  accuracy  of  each  ear. 

Since  the  elevated  lines  were  placed  in  operation  an 
additional  test  for  color-blindness  has  been  added.  The 
candidate  is  required  to  select  from  many  skeins  of 
worsted  of  various  hues  and  shades  those  which  he  thinks 
match  in  general  color  certain  samples  that  are  handed 
to  him.  He  is  further  required  to  name  correctly  the 
colored  discs  of  light  displayed  by  a  lantern  in  a  dark 
room,  and  a  failure  to  select  and  name  correctly  is  suffi- 
cient cause  for  rejection. 

No  man  is  employed  as  a  conductor  who  is  less  than 
5  ft.  4  in.  in  height,  nor  as  a  motorman  or  brakeman  if  he 
falls  below  5  ft.  6  in. ;  and  no  man  can  enter  the  car  ser- 
vice at  all  unless  his  fingers  and  thumbs  are  all  present 
and  in  good  working  order.  Conductors  must  possess  a 
common  school  education,  and  motormen  must  be  able 
to  read  and  write  the  English  language. 

If  this  preliminary  examination  discloses  no  unfitness, 
the  applicant's  moral  character  is  investigated  with  the 
greatest  possible  thoroughness.  If  this  investigation 
establishes  positively  that  the  candidate  is  trustworthy 
and  otherwise  desirable,  he  is  sent  to  the  company's  phy- 
sician for  final  physical  examination.  This  examination 
is  intended  to  disclose  any  constitutional  or  organic  de- 
fects that  might  interfere  with  the  discharge  of  his  duties 
in  a  long  term  of  employment.  About  one  out  of  every 
eight  is  rejected  by  the  physician.  The  kidneys,  heart, 
lungs,  and  feet  have  been  found  to  be  particularly  vul- 
nerable points  in  men  employed  upon  the  cars ;  and  the 
company  feels  that  it  is  not  justified  in  the  expenditure 
of  the  time  and  money  necessary  to  break  in  new  men 
who  are  not  absolutely  sound  in  these  respects. 

The  number  of  men  who  succeed  in  running  the 
gauntlet  of  all  of  these  examinations  amounts  to  only 
about  twenty-five   per  cent  of   the   total  wlio   apply  for 


Electrical    Handbook  jj 


BOSTON  ELEVATED  RAILWAY  SYSTEM 


ELfVATCS  LtNCS  OPERATES  BV  S.E.CO. *>^^.« 

8UPFACE  t.lNE8  OPERATED  BV  B.E.CO 

BUHrACE  lINEt  OPERATED  BY  OTMU  CO'I 

BuewAYB  OB  TUNNEU *^— -»^ 

CAB   HOUBEI     m  POWER  BIATIONt « 


^6  T  he    B  o s t 0 n 

positions.  It  is  doubtful  if  any  other  corporation  or  con- 
cern, public  or  private,  exercises  so  great  care  in  the 
selection  of  men  for  service.  As  a  further  precaution 
the  company  requires  every  conductor  to  furnish  a  bond 
with  two  real  estate  owners  as  sureties,  each  in  the  sum 
of  three  hundred  dollars.  The  bonds  of  surety  compa- 
nies are  not  accepted,  for  the  reason  that  it  is  believed 
that  the  stipulation  of  private  bondsmen  is  certain  to 
result  in  securing  greater  fidelity  among  the  employees. 
An  individual  will  not  assume  the  risk  of  losing  three 
hundred  dollars  by  the  misconduct  of  another  unless  he 
has  very  excellent  grounds  for  believing  in  the  honesty 
of  the  person  for  whose  possible  wrong-doing  he  is  to 
be  held  liable. 

An  applicant  who  has  passed  the  various  tests,  and 
convinced  the  employment  department  that  he  is  in  all 
probability  capable  of  becoming  a  satisfactory  operative, 
is  then  placed  under  instruction.  On  the  surface  lines 
the  men  are  taught  on  the  cars  by  instructors  selected 
from  the  more  competent  motormen  and  conductors. 
The  instructions  include  the  rules,  training  in  the  per- 
formance of  ordinary  duties,  equipment  and  mechanism 
of  street  cars,  and  the  proper  treatment  of  accidents 
and  emergencies. 

The  course  of  instruction  for  elevated  employees  is 
similar  in  general  principles  to  that  for  surface  employ- 
ees, but  the  method  of  instruction  is  different  and  of 
more  popular  interest.  Men  assigned  to  the  elevated 
divisions  begin  as  brakemen,  are  in  time  promoted  to  be 
guards,  and  finally  become  motormen.  For  each  of  these 
positions  instruction  and  the  passing  of  a  rigid  examina- 
tion is  required.  For  the  purpose  of  teaching  and  dem- 
onstration, a  school-room  has  been  equipped  in  the  Sulli- 
van Square  terminal  station.  In  this  room  there  has 
been  built  a  skeleton  three-car  train  containing  all  of  the 
mechanism  of  a  regular  train,  except  the  trucks.  There 
are  no  sides,  seats  or  roofs  to  the  cars,  these  having  been 
omitted  in  order  that  the  mechanism  may  be  exposed  to 
view  and  accessible  for  examination.  Upon  this  train 
new  men  and  candidates  for  promotion  are  shown  the 


Electrical    Handbook  57 


S8 


The    Boston 


location,  operation,  and  use  of  the  various  devices.  They 
learn  how  to  connect  a  train,  how  to  put  it  in  order  to 
take  out  of  the  yard,  how  to  operate  it,  how  to  give  and 
respond   to  the  various  signals,  what  to  do  in  emergen- 


1.4 

, 

1.3 

J 

1 

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Cost  of    Power  in  Plants  of   Boston  Elevated  Railway  Company 


cies,  and  how  to  lay  up  a  train  when  it  is  hauled  off  the 
main  line.  Tliere  is  no  make-believe  about  anything  ex- 
cept the  motion  of  the  train.  No  man  is  permitted  to 
assume  the  responsibilities  of  his  position  until  he  has 
demonstrated  on  the  dummy  train  that  he  is  thoroughly 


Electrical    Handbook  jp 

familiar  with  his  duties  and  with  the  equipment  he  is 
expected  to  handle.  An  absolutely  perfect  examination 
must  be  passed  before  the  train-master  will  certify  that 
a  candidate  is  qualified  for  the  service.  The  examina- 
tions for  brakemen,  guards,  and  motormen  are  different, 
and  consist  of  prescribed  questions  that  are  answered 
orally  or  by  demonstration. 


GENERAL   RELATIONS   WITH   EMPLOYEES 

Tiie  company  does  its  utmost  to  thoroughly  instruct 
new  men,  and  it  is  equally  painstaking  in  their  subse- 
quent training.  It  aims  to  perfect  every  man  as  fully 
as  possible  in  all  the  details  of  the  business,  not  only 
because  it  must  have  reliable  men  on  the  cars,  but  be- 
cause it  must  find  its  future  superintendents,  inspectors, 
and  other  officers  among  the  men  who  to-day  manipu- 
late the  controller  and  bell  chord. 

Every  man  brings  a  new  problem  to  his  superintend- 
ent and  assistants.  It  is  their  duty  to  .see  that  all  ac- 
cepted men  are  made  into  good  men,  to  see  that  good 
men  are  made  better,  and  to  see  that  the  best  men  are 
recommended  for  promotion. 

With  this  end  in  view,  leniency  and  consideration  are 
extended  to  new  men  who  are  at  fault  until  the  company 
is  satisfied  that  they  are  well  versed  in  the  rules  which 
should  govern  their  conduct,  but  men  who  negligently 
and  willfully  violate  rules  are  disciplined  by  reprimand, 
suspension,  or  discharge.  Suspension  is  a  severe  form 
of  discipline,  imposed  only  for  serious  offences.  Kepeti- 
tion  of  these  offences  leads  to  discharge. 

The  work  of  every  man  is  studied  by  his  superiors 
from  the  day  he  begins  to  run  a  car  until  his  connection 
with  the  company  is  severed.  It  is  no  slight  task  to 
keep  a  w\atchful  eye  upon  the  conduct  of  five  thousand 
men  who  are  performing  their  duties  far  from  those  who 
are  held  responsible  for  what  they  do,  say,  or  omit ;  but, 
with  the  aid  of  a  force  of  uniformed  and  non-uniformed 
insi^ectors,  it  is  possible  to  keep  up  a  very  good  super- 
vision of  the  work  of  each  man. 


6o  The   Boston 

Although  a  division  superintendent  cannot  be  so  in- 
timately acquainted  with  every  man  under  his  authority 
as  to  know,  as  a  matter  of  memory,  the  temperament, 
merit,  and  capabiHty  of  each,  yet  as  a  matter  of  justice 
to  the  company  and  to  the  employees,  some  form  of  rec- 
ord must  be  provided  ;  and  for  this  reason,  among  others, 
a  ledger  account  is  kept  with  every  man  that  makes  full 
information  available  whenever  an  employee  is  under 
consideration  for  discipline  or  reward. 

Each  surface  division  is  sub-divided  into  districts, 
and  a  street  inspector  in  uniform  is  assigned  to  duty  in 
each  district,  and  is  held  responsible,  so  far  as  possible, 
for  the  movement  of  cars,  correction  of  mistakes,  viola- 
tions of  rules,  and  for  report  of  defects  that  occur  within 
the  district.  This  is  accomplished  by  informing  any  mo- 
torman  or  conductor  of  any  failure  of  conduct  observed 
by  the  inspector,  and  explaining  the  nature  of  the  error 
and  how  it  should  have  been  avoided,  later  making  a  full 
report  of  the  occurrence  to  the  division  superintendent. 
Inspectors,  from  time  to  time,  are  assigned  to  different 
districts,  so  that  all  may  have  a  thorough  knowledge  of 
the  entire  division.  Street  inspectors  are  not  only  ex- 
pected to  observe  and  report  upon  everything  affecting 
the  service,  but  are  to  keep  trafific  moving  by  diverting 
cars  in  case  of  accident,  fire,  or  other  obstruction.  They 
are  required  to  regularly  report  by  telephone  to  the 
office  of  the  division  superintendent. 

As  a  result  of  the  efforts  of  the  street  inspection 
force,  both  the  number  and  proportion  of  accidents  at- 
tributable to  motormen  and  conductors  have  been  greatly 
reduced.  The  plan  is  to  have  every  mistake  or  wrongful 
act  pointed  out  and  explained  at  the  time  it  occurs,  while 
every  circumstance  is  in  the  mind  of  the  offender.  Uni- 
formed inspectors  explain,  instruct,  correct  and  report, 
but  all  matters  of  discipline  are  decided  by  the  division 
superintendents  and  their  superior  officers. 

Another  corps  of  inspectors,  who  wear  no  uniforms, 
supplements  the  work  of  the  division  inspectors.  These 
men  are  selected  and  trained  with  the  greatest  possible 
care  to  observe  and  report  upon  the  conduct  of  the  men 


Electrical    Handbook  6 1 

as  it  appears  from  inside  the  cars,  in  the  same  manner 
that  the  street  inspectors  observe  from  without.  The 
reports  of  these  inspectors  are  of  the  greatest  possible 
value  to  the  management  and  to  the  men  who  perform 
their  work  well. 

In  dealing  with  the  men  collectively  every  effort  is 
made  to  bring  about  an  atmosphere  of  sympathetic  and 
harmonious  co-operation.  One  of  the  most  successful 
methods  employed  for  this  purpose  is  the  holding  of 
meetings  of  a  semi-formal  nature  for  the  discussion  of 
operating  problems.  Twice  each  month  the  Superintend- 
ent of  Transportation  holds  meetings  of  superintendents 
of  divisions  and  departments.  The.se  meetings  are 
opened  with  a  talk  by  the  Superintendent  of  Transporta- 
tion upon  some  subject  relating  to  division  management, 
the  improvement  of  the  service,  the  interpretation  of 
rules,  and  other  kindred  themes.  After  his  address  an 
"experience  meeting"  is  held,  in  which  all  participate. 
At  first  the  discu.ssion  usually  centres  upon  the  subject 
pre.sented  by  the  Superintendent  of  Transportation,  but 
after  that  is  disposed  of,  all  sorts  of  subjects  are  brought 
up.  Reports  are  made,  advice  is  asked  and  given,  and 
ideas  are  exchanged. 

Once  a  month  a  similar  meeting  of  chief  inspectors, 
and  such  other  inspectors  as  choose  to  attend,  is  con- 
ducted by  the  Superintendent  of  Transportation,  and  the 
same  general  programme  is  followed.  Division  superin- 
tendents also  conduct  meetings  of  inspectors  and  starters 
attached  to  their  divisions,  and  explain  and  discuss  the 
affairs  of  the  division.  They  al.so  hold  meetings  of  the 
car  men  at  such  times  and  places  as  will  enable  every 
man  in  the  division  to  attend  at  least  one  meeting  each 
month.  In  this  manner  the  management,  through  its 
direct  representatives,  talks  as  often  as  once  a  month  to 
every  man  directly  engaged  in  handling  traffic. 

The  company  strives  to  show  its  interest  in  the  wel- 
fare of  the  men  in  many  ways,  and  does  all  tnat  is  possi- 
ble for  their  well-being.  Among  other  things  it  pays 
about  the  highest  wages  in  the  country.  Conductors  and 
motormen  on  the  surface  lines  receive  ;>2.25  per  day  for 


62  The   Boston 

lo  hours'  work,  and  4  cents  for  every  ten  minutes  over- 
time, while  35  and  40  cents  per  hour  is  paid  for  snow- 
plow  work. 

On  the  elevated  lines  all  men  are  paid  by  the  hour. 
Ten  hours  constitutes  a  day's  work,  and  on  that  basis 
brakemen  who  are  beginners  are  paid  31-^5  ;  guards  are 
paid  $2.10,  and  motormen  $2.2,0  the  first  year,  32.40  the 
second  year,  and  32.50  for  subsequent  service.  Learners 
are  paid  $\  a  day  ;  extra  men  are  guaranteed  about  two- 
thirds  full  pay  for  being  on  call,  whether  work  is  given 
them  or  not,  and  are  paid  more  if  they  earn  more.  All 
men  in  the  car  service  are  paid  5  cents  a  day  extra  for 
five  years'  continuous  service,  10  cents  for  ten  years,  and 
15  cents  for  fifteen  or  more  years.  Fifteen  dollars  extra 
pay  is  given  at  the  end  of  each  year  for  meritoriuus 
service. 

Men  who  have  spent  twenty-five  years  in  continuous 
service,  or  have  reached  the  age  of  sixty,  after  fifteen 
years  of  continuous  service,  upon  becoming  incapacitated 
for  future  work  are  granted  an  annuity,  usually  $25  a 
month,  for  the  remainder  of  their  lives.  The  company 
never  discharges  a  man  except  for  cause,  and  endeavors 
to  make  the  lot  of  its  employees  as  comfortable  as  possi- 
ble, often  going  far  out  of  its  way  to  do  so.  During  the 
recent  coal  strike  the  company  imported  twenty  thousand 
tons  of  coal  to  be  distributed  among  its  employees  at 
cost ;  and  many  a  house  was  warmed  tliat  would  other- 
wise have  been  cold  and  wretched. 

The  lobbies  at  the  car  sheds  are  made  thoroughly 
comfortable  for  the  men.  They  are  supplied  with  papers, 
rr.agazines,  and  other  good  reading  matter  at  an  annual 
expense  of  more  than  31.500.  The  toilet  and  sanitary 
arrangements  are  adequate  and  convenient.  The  car- 
sheds  are  business  establishments,  and  not  club  houses; 
nevertheless  the  company  endeavors  to  provide  whole- 
some, attractive,  and  comfortable  quarters  for  its  em- 
ployees. 

The  company  pays  the  running  expenses  of  two  mu- 
tual benefit  associations  organized  and  conducted  by 
employees.      Both  of  these  associations  pay   members 


Electrical    Handbook  dj 

$7  a  week  during  sickness  not  exceeding  ten  weeks  in  a 
year,  and  one  of  them  pays  Sioo  and  the  other  Si,ooo  in 
case  of  death.  All  of  the  payments  for  sickness  and 
death  are  met  by  monthly  assessments.  The  annual  cost 
of  membership  is  about  515.  The  company  assumes  the 
cost  of  collecting  and  distributing  the  money,  of  keeping 
the  books  and  other  incidental  expenses,  so  that  every 
dollar  contributed  by  the  men  is  available  for  distribu- 
tion. The  contribution  of  the  company  for  this  purpose 
amounts  to  nearly  $7,000  annually.  A  very  good  band  of 
music  has  been  organized  among  the  men,  and  this  is 
also  supported  by  the  company. 

Then,  too,  the  company  comes  to  the  relief  of  men 
in  individual  cases  of  hardship.  Efforts  are  constantly 
being  made  to  make  the  men  feel  that  the  management 
is  a  friend  and  helper  to  every  man  who  is  loyal  to  the 
service,  and  faithful  in  the  performance  of  his  duties. 
The  legal  department  may  be  consulted  by  any  employee 
free  of  expense.  The  President  is  accessible  to  every 
individual  at  all  seasonable  hours,  and  no  person  having 
legitimate  business  to  present  is  ever  denied  an  audience. 
The  President  is  always  ready  and  glad  to  discuss  any 
matter  with  individuals  or  groups,  and  make  changes  or 
adopt  suggestions  whenever  it  is  feasible  to  do  so. 

Perhaps  what  has  already  been  said  will  give  a  gen- 
eral idea  of  the  manner  in  which  the  company  deals  with 
the  individual.  At  best  it  can  be  no  more  than  sugges- 
tive of  the  many  other  means  adopted  to  establish  an 
individual  relationship  between  every  employee  and  the 
central  office.  The  aim  is  to  have  every  man  feel  that 
the  management  has  a  personal  interest  in  him,  that  it  is 
anxious  to  help  him  improve,  that  if  he  does  well  it  is 
known  and  he  receives  credit,  and  that  if  he  does  ill  it 
is  also  known  and  lie  must  take  the  consequences. 

POWER  STATIONS   AND   ELECTRIC   SYSTEM 

The  IJoston  Elevated  Railway  system  comprises  421.5 
miles  of  tramway  tracks,  and  16  miles  of  elevated  tracks, 
all  within  a  radius  of  seven  miles  from  the  State  House 
on  Beacon  Hill. 


64. 


The    Boston 


For  the  operation  of  these  tracks  there  are  required 
about  1,550  closed  tramway  cars  and  a  like  number  of 
open  cars,  and  174  elevated  cars. 

The  elevated  road  traverses  the  heart  of  the  city  from 
north  to  south,  connecting  with  the  surface  lines  in 
terminals  at  either  end  and  at  every  intermediate  station. 
In  the  city  proper  there  are  two  branches,  one  through 
the  subway,  underground,  and  the  other  by  the  water 
front  overhead. 


Collector  and   Track   Brush 

Power  for  this  work  is  furnished  by  eight  power  .sta- 
tions, operating  on  the  550  volt,  direct  current,  track 
return,  system. 

These  power  station.s,  with  a  total  normal  generating 
capacity  of  36,444  kilowatts,  are  divided,  as  to  size  and 
number  of  units,  as  follows: 


I.    Central  Power  Station 


Capacity,  14.400  k.w. 


Units 


Lincoln  Power  .Station 
Capacity,  8,100  k.w.  Units 

Charlestown  Power  Station 
Capacity,  4,300  k.w.  Units 


1-2700  k.w. 
2-1500    " 
]    6-1200   " 

L 30-50      " 

3-2700  k.w. 
1-2700  k.w. 

2-SoO        " 


Electrical    Handbook  6^ 

4.  Harvard  Power  Station 

Capacity,  3,600  k.w.  Units  3-1200  k.w. 

5.  East  Cambridge  Power  Station 

Capacity,  2,700  k.w.  Units  6-450  k.w. 

6.  Dorchester  Power  Station 

•  Capacity,  2,000  k.w.  Units  2-1000  k.w. 

7.  Allston  Power  Station 

Capacity,  744  k.w.  Units  12-62  k.w. 

8.  East  Boston  Power  Station 

Capacity,  600  k.w.  Units  3-200  k.w. 

Reference  to  the  map  on  page  57  will  show  the  lo- 
cation of  the  several  power  stations,  each  one  being 
represented  by  a  star.  All  are  located  on  tide  water  with 
the  exception  of  the  Allston  power  station,  so  that  water 
is  available  for  condensing  purposes. 

I.     Central  Power  Station 

This,  the  main  station  of  the  system,  is  situated  on 
Harrison  Ave.,  south  of  Dover  Street. 

The  equipment  consists  of  six  1,800  h.p.  horizontal 
triple-expansion,  condensing  engines;  two  2,000  h.p.  hor- 
izontal, cross-compound,  condensing  engines ;  and  one 
4,200  h.p.  vertical  cross-compound  condensing  engine,  all 
direct  coupled  to  multipolar  generators. 

Condensing  water  is  drawn  from  the  South  Basin, 
nearby,  and  is  utilized  in  condensers  of  the  Bulkley 
siphon  type. 

The  boiler  room  is  in  tandem  with  the  engine  room, 
and  the  boilers  are  arranged  in  two  rows  facing  each 
other,  with  a  track  down  the  center  from  which  coal  cars 
di.scharge  their  load  in  front  of  each  unit.  The  boilers 
are  hand  fired. 

Coal  is  brought  by  electric  locomotives  and  cars  from 
the  coal  wharf  across  the  street,  where  two  electrically 
operated  buckets  on  travelling  cranes  discharge  the  coal 
from  lighters  and   barges,  over  tunnels   equipped   with 


66 


The    Boston 


chutes  for  loading  cars  for  transportation  to  this  and 
other  power  stations  and  car  houses.  The  wharf  has  a 
storage  capacity  of  about  24,000  tons  of  coal. 


Lincoln   Power  Station 


In  a  building  adjacent  to  the  main  station  are  30-50 
k.w.  bipolar  generators,  belted  to  tandem  compound,  high 
speed,  engines.  These  machines  were  originally  installed 
for  temporary  use  in  an  old  building  on  the  premises,  to 


Electrical    Handbook  6y 

be  used  during  the  construction  of  the  main  powerhouse. 
This  plant  has  never  been  discarded,  although  but  little 
used. 

2.     Lincoln  Power  Station 

This  is  the  newest  station  of  the  Company,  and  is 
situated  on  the  harbor  front  at  the  corner  of  Atlantic 
Avenue  and  Battery  Street. 

The  equipment  consists  of  three  4,200  h.p.  vertical, 
cross-compound  condensing  engines,  direct  coupled  to 
multipolar  generators.  The  boiler  room  is  back  of  and 
parallel  with  the  engine  room.  The  boilers  are  arranged 
in  two  rows,  facing  each  other,  and  are  fed  with  coal 
from  the  bunkers  overhead,  through  hoppers  to  mechani- 
cal stokers. 

The  condensers  of  this  station  are  of  the  jet  type,  the 
pumps  for  the  same  being  steam  driven.  Condensing 
water  is  taken  directly  from  and  discharged  into  the  dock. 

A  coal  handling  and  storage  plant  is  situated  on  tlie 
wharf  directly  back  of  the  power  station,  equipped  with 
3  steam-operated  coal  towers,  and  having  a  storage  capa- 
city of  about  4.000  tons  of  coal.  The  coal  is  transferred 
to  the  bunkers  over  the  boilers  by  a  system  of  moving 
buckets. 

An  unusual  feature  of  the  electrical  equipment  of  this 
station  is  the  generator  switchboard,  on  which  there  are 
only  the  positive  terminals  and  connections  of  tlie  gen- 
erators, the  negative  terminals  being  connected  directly 
to  the  negative  bus. 

3.     Charlestown  Power  Station 

This  station  is  situated  near  the  northerly  terminal  of 
the  elevated  road  in  Charlestown.  Its  equipment  con- 
sists of  one  4,200  h.p.  vertical,  cross-compound,  conden- 
sing engine,  and  two  i.ooo  h.p.  horizontal,  cross-compound 
condensing  engines,  all  direct  coupled  to  multipolar  gen- 
erators. 

The  condenser  for  the  large  engine  is  of  tlic  ]5iilklev 
siphon  type  with  steam  circulating   pump.     The  conden- 


68  T he    B  0 s ton 

sers  for  the  two  small  engines  are  of  the  jet  type  with 
steam  pumps. 

The  boiler  room  is  back  of  and  parallel  with  the 
engine  room,  and  the  boilers  are  arranged  in  a  single 
row.  Coal  is  conveyed  by  a  bucket  conveyor  to  the 
bunkers  above  the  boilers,  to  which  it  is  fed  by  me- 
chanical stokers. 

4.    Harvard  Power  Station 

This  station,  as  its  name  implies,  is  situated  not  far 
from  Harvard  Square,  on  Boylston  Street  in  Cambridge. 

Its  equipment  consists  of  three  1,800  h.p.  cross-com- 
pound, horizontal,  condensing  engines,  direct  coupled  to 
multipolar  generators.  The  condensing  water  is  drawn 
from  the  Charles  River  on  the  shore  of  which  the  station 
is  located,  and  is  utilized  in  jet  condensers,  equipped  with 
steam  air  and  circulating  pumps. 

The  boiler  room  is  back  of  and  parallel  with  the 
engine  room,  and  the  boilers  are  arranged  in  one  row. 
Coal  is  brought  to  this  station  from  the  coal  wharves  at 
Central  or  Lincoln  Power  Stations  by  a  specially  de- 
signed car,  and  is  deposited,  through  openings  in  the 
bottom  of  the  car,  into  coal  bunkers  below  the  track, 
from  which  it  is  conveyed  by  small  cars  and  an  endless 
chain,  and  deposited  in  hoppers  above  the  furnaces,  from 
which  it  is  discharged  into  mechanical  stokers. 

5.    East  Cambridge  Power  Station 

This  is  one  of  the  oldest  power  stations  and  is  situ- 
ated in  East  Cambridge  on  the  river  front.  The  equip- 
ment consists  of  two  1,000  h.p.  and  one  500  h.p.  horizontal 
triple-expansion,  condensing  engines,  with  broad  face  fly- 
wheels, belted  to  a  jack  shaft,  from  which  are  belted  six 
4-pole  generators.  This  jack  shaft  is  divided  into  three 
parts,  which  may  be  united  by  means  of  clutches. 

The  condensers  for  two  of  the  engines  are  of  the  sur- 
face type,  and  for  the  other  one  of  the  Bulkley  type,  with 
steam  pumps.  The  boiler  room  stands  at  right  angles 
with  the  engine  room,  and  the  boilers  are  arranged  in  one 


Electrical    Handbook  6g 

row.  Coal  is  discharged  at  the  station  from  lighters  and 
deposited  in  a  pile  in  front  of  the  boiler  house,  into  which 
it  is  wheeled  by  hand.     The  boilers  are  hand  fired. 

6.     Dorchester  Power  Station 

This  station  is  located  on  the  shore  of  Dorchester 
Bay  on  Commercial  Point.  Its  equipment  consists  of 
two  1,500  h.p.  horizontal,  cross-compound  condensing 
engines,  direct  coupled  to  multipolar  generators.  The 
condensers  are  of  the  jet  type  with  steam  pumps. 

The  boiler  room  is  back  of  and  parallel  with  the  en- 
gine room,  and  the  boilers  are  arranged  in  one  row. 
Coal  is  discharged  from  lighters  at  the  wharf  alongside 
the  power  station,  and  is  deposited  in  a  pile  near  the 
building,  from  which  it  is  wheeled  into  the  boiler  room 
and  shovelled  into  hoppers,  through  which  it  pas.ses  to 
the  mechanical  stokers  with  which  the  boilers  are 
equipped. 

7.     AUston  Power  Station 

This  is  the  oldest  of  all  the  stations.  It  was  built  to 
operate  the  first  electric  cars  run  in  Boston,  and  was 
originally  designed  for  one-half  the  present  size,  but  the 
design  was  changed  and  the  station  doubled  in  capacity 
before  it  was  finished.  Its  equipment  consists  of  four 
horizontal-tandem,  compound,  high  speed  non-condensing 
engines,  belted  to  bipolar  generators.  The  boiler  room 
is  back  of  and  parallel  with  the  engine  room  and  the 
boilers  are  arranged  in  one  row.  They  are  of  the  fire 
tube  type  and  are  hand  fired. 

Coal  is  brought  to  this  station  from  the  coal  wharf  at 
Central  or  Lincoln  Power  Stations  by  means  of  a  spe- 
cially designed  coal  car,  and  the  coal  is  deposited  on  the 
floor  of  the  boiler  room  in  front  of  the  boilers. 

8.     East  Boston  Power  Station 

This  station  is  located  in  East  Boston  on  the  water 
front  and  supplies  power  for  that  part  of  the  system 
located  on  the  island.     The  equipment  consists  of  three 


yo  The    Boston 

250  h.p.  horizontal,  cross-compound,  condensing  engines, 
direct  coupled  to  multipolar  generators.  The  conden- 
sers at  this  station  are  of  the  jet  type  with  steam 
pumps.  The  boiler  room  is  back  of  and  parallel  to  the 
engine  room,  and  the  equipment  consists  of  three  inter- 
nally fired,  vertical  tubular  boilers  which  are  hand  fired. 
Coal  is  brought  to  this  station  by  teams  from  the  coal 
wharf  at  Lincoln  Power  Station,  and  is  deposited  on 
the  floor  of  the  boiler  room. 

These  eight  power  stations,  although  separated  from 
one  another  by  distances  ranging  from  2  to  3  miles,  oper- 
ate in  parallel  with  each  other  through  feeder  sections  to 
which  two  or  more  of  them  are  connected. 

DISTRIBUTION   OF   POWER 

The  whole  system  is  divided  into  65  feeder  sections, 
controlled  by  switches  and  circuit-breakers  at  the  several 
power  stations;  21  of  these  are  .sections  which  are  fed 
from  two  or  more  stations,  and  it  is  through  the  copper 
connecting  these  sections  with  the  power  stations  that 
the  latter  are  worked  in  parallel. 

The  morning  load  works  from  the  outer  part  of  the 
system  radially  toward  the  centre,  and  the  evening  load, 
in  the  reverse  manner.  This  tie  copper  together  with  the 
adjustment  of  station  voltage,  permits  of  a  fairly  uniform 
load  and  a  high  load-factor  for  each  station. 

If  one  of  the  generating  units  at  one  of  the  power 
stations  becomes  disabled,  the  load  upon  that  station  is 
reduced  by  lowering  its  voltage,  allowing  the  other  sta- 
tions to  assume  the  extra  burden  to  an  extent  propor- 
tional to  their  several  abilities. 

Service  has  been  maintained  in  this  manner  at  a  time 
when  two  of  the  2,700  k.w.,  and  one  of  the  1,300  k.w. 
units  were  out  of  service  at  times  of  maximum  load. 

TRANSMISSION   SYSTEM 

The  feeders  and  returns  are  carried  underground  from 
all  stations,  except  East  Cambridge,  Allston,  and  East 
Boston,  from  which  they  are  still  carried  overhead. 


Electrical    Handbook  ji 

The  standard  sizes  of  wire  for  overhead  feeders  are 
500,000  cm.  and  1,000,000  cm.  The  standards  for  under- 
ground worlv  are  500,000  cm.,  1,000,000  cm.,  and  2,000,. 
000  cm.,  the  latter  size  being  used  for  carrying  the  heavy 
currents  required  in  the  elevated  service.  The  standard 
size  for  trolley  wire  is  No.  00. 

In  underground  work  vitrified  earthware  duct  is  now 
the  standard  construction.  There  are,  however,  some 
few  miles  of  cement-lined  iron  pipe,  installed  at  the  in- 
ception of  the  work  of  placing  feeders  underground. 

There  are  emergency  connections  between  adjacent 
surface  feeder  sections  and  between  adjacent  elevated 
feeder  sections ;  and  there  are  also  emergency  connec- 
tions between  the  elevated  and  surface  sections,  so  that, 
in  the  event  of  failure  of  the  copper  of  any  section,  service 
may  be  quickly  restored.  Seven  emergency  crews  with 
properly  equipped  wagons  are  located  at  advantageous 
points  over  the  system,  ready  to  respond  to  orders  from 
the  power  station  authorities  in  time  of  trouble. 

The  elevated  lines  are  operated  by  the  third  rail  sys- 
tem, current  being  collected  for  the  motors  of  the  cars  by 
a  special  form  of  spring  collecting  shoe. 

Throughout  the  subway  this  third  rail  is  divided  into 
sections  corresponding  in  length  with  the  signal  blocks, 
and  controlled  by  a  conveniently  located  switch,  so  that, 
should  an  accident  occur  to  the  electrical  equipment  of 
a  train  while  in  the  subway,  it  may  be  isolated  very 
quickly.  , 

The  following  facts  concerning  the  transmission  lines 
and  feeder  sections  may  be  of  interest.  The  longest  di.s- 
tance  over  which  power  is  normally  transmitted  from  each 
power  station  is  as  follows : 

From  Central,  8.05  miles  (with  boosters). 

"  Lincoln,  2.10 

"  Charlestovvn,  5.17  " 

"  Harvard,  5.91  " 

"  East  Cambridge,       6.1 5  " 

"  Dorchester,  5.00  " 

"  East  Boston,  i  (>S  " 


y2  The    B  0  st  0  n 

The  average  distances  over  which  power  is  normally 
transmitted  from  each  station,  to  the  electrical  centres  of 
gravity  of  the  feeder  sections,  are  as  follows: 

Central,  1.40  miles 

Lincoln,  1.14      " 

Charlestown,  2.75      " 

Harvard,  2.14      " 

East  Cambridge,  1.50      " 

Dorchester,  1.2S      " 

Miles  of  trolley  wire,  413 
"      "   feeder  and  return  wire  (overhead) 

(in  500,000  cm.  equivalent),  551 
"       "        "       and  return  wire  (underground) 

(in  500,000  cm.  equivalent),  295 

"       "   submarine  cable,  4.6 

"      "    underground  conduit  structure,  26.5 

"      "             ''                  "         duct,  239.5 

Number  of  manholes,  583 

No.  of  feed  taps  to  trolley  (direct),  633 

"  "  "  "  "  "  (through  switches),  800 
"  "  connections  to  tracks  from  return  wires,  608 
"      "  insulating  joints  in  trolley,  913 

"     "  poles  (all  kinds),  18,102 


The  most  striking  electrical  feature  of  the  Boston 
Elevated  Railway  system  is  the  fact  that  the  company 
has  adhered  consistently  to  the  policy  of  generating  its 
power  at  a  number  of  independent  stations,  instead  of 
following  the  now  common  fashion  of  generating  at  one 
colossal  plant  and  transmitting  power  at  high  tension  to 
sub-stations  with  rotaries  feeding  various  parts  of  the 
network.  This  diversity  in  practice  is  not  without 
reason.  It  does  not  represent  either  extreme  conserva- 
tism or  a  condition  of  being  hopelessly  behind  the  times, 
but  rather  a  realization  of  the  possibilities  of  economical 
generation  of  power  in  stations  of  moderate  size. 

One  of  the  points  most  often  argued  among  electrical 
engineers,  is  the  variation  of  power-cost  with  capacity  of 
station,  other  conditions  remaining  approximately  equal. 
Representing  this  variation  in  the  form  of  a  curve,  it  is 
clear  enough  that  at  some  point  of  output  this  curve  be- 


Electrical    Handbook  /j 

comes  asymptotic ;  that  is,  at  some  capacity  of  indeter- 
minate amount  a  further  increase  in  size  does  not  effecta 
perceptible  saving  in  cost.  The  present  tendency  has 
been  to  assume,  in  many  cases  without  adequate  proof, 
that  this  critical  size  is  extremely  large,  so  that  stations 
of  50,000  to  100,000  kilowatts  output  have  been  frequently 
planned,  and  sometimes  in  fact  built.  Obviously  in  order 
that  generation  of  power  at  such  a  colossal  station  shall 
prove  finally  to  be  economical,  it  is  necessary  that  the  cost 
at  this  station  be  small  enough  to  permit  material  losses 
in  transmission  and  in  the  rotaries  at  the  sub-stations,  still 
leaving  the  net  cost  of  power  at  the  sub-station  bus-bars 
less  than  it  would  be  if  generated  in  separate  stations  at 
approximately  the  same  points. 

There  is  good  reason  to  believe  that  the  aggregate  of 
these  losses,  including  proper  charges  for  the  mainte- 
nance and  depreciation  of  the  transmission  lines,  is  large  ; 
seldom,  perhaps  never,  less  tlian  25  per  cent  of  the  total 
cost  of  power  ;  sometimes,  perhaps  rather  often,  in  excess 
of  that  amount. 

The  concrete  problem  which  faces  the  engineer  is 
therefore  the  possibility  of  saving,  by  generating  in  one 
immense  station,  enough  in  cost  of  power  to  enable  him 
to  lose  with  impunity  what  may  be  a  very  material  frac- 
tion of  the  whole.  Can  he,  in  other  words,  by  building 
one  station  of  50,000  kilowatts  capacity,  or  more,  produce 
and  distribute  (costs  being  reckoned  at  the  substation 
busbars)  his  power  more  cheaply  than  if  those  bus-bars 
were  fed  by  separate  stations?  Under  existing  conditions 
here  in  Boston,  the  engineers  of  the  Boston  Elevated  Rail- 
way Company  have  steadily  held  to  the  negative  of  this 
proposition,  believing  that  where  it  is  possible,  as  it  is 
here,  to  locate  independent  stations  practically  upon  tide- 
water, or  at  least  at  points  extremely  accessible,  the  costs 
of  generation  in  stations  of  moderate  size  are  so  near 
those  which  can  be  attained  under  similar  conditions  in 
very  large  stations  as  to  leave  no  margin  for  the  nece.s- 
sary  losses  of  transmission  and  of  sub-station  opera- 
tion. 

The  annexed  diagram  sliows  in  a  most  vivid  and  con- 


J  4-  T  he    B  0  si  on 

vincing  manner  the  substance  of  their  argument  from 
practice.  This  diagram  gives  the  cost  of  power  per  kilo- 
watt hour  for  a  complete  year  for  each  of  the  generating 
stations  of  the  system,  and  the  average  of  the  whole.  It 
must  be  distinctly  understood  that  these  costs  are  not 
computed  costs  or  values  determined  from  sets  of  experi- 
mental runs  of  the  various  plants.  They  are  the  figures 
of  operation  day  in  and  day  out,  as  obtained  at  each  of 
the  plants.  Each  station  is,  in  fact,  under  continuous  test, 
the  amount  of  coal  used  and  the  amount  of  water  evapor- 
ated being  determined  as  part  of  the  regular  operation  of 
the  system.  The  final  costs,  therefore,  represent  what 
actually  happened. 

The  diagram  shows  the  complete  and  final  costs  of 
operation  without  the  fixed  charges  annexed,  which  is 
the  common  and  customary  method  of  comparison  in 
considering  power-house  costs.  A  glance  at  it  shows  at 
once  that  three  of  the  stations,  those  at  East  Cambridge, 
Allston,  and  East  Boston,  are  conspicuously  higher  in 
cost  of  power  production  than  any  of  the  others.  The 
latter  two  of  these  are  small  stations  :  Allston  of  744  kilo- 
watts, in  small  units  ;  East  Boston  of  only  600  kilowatts, 
in  three  units.  The  East  Cambridge  power  station,  al- 
though of  an  aggregate  capacity  of  2,700  kilowatts,  is 
composed  of  units  of  only  450  kilowatts  each.  The  other 
five  stations  all  sh  nv  low  costs  of  power.  At  Dorchester 
and  at  Harvard  the  cost  per  kilowatt  hour  is  just  seven- 
tenths  of  a  cent.  At  the  Lincoln  power  station  it  is  0.725 
cent ;  at  the  Charlestown  power  station  0.755  cent ;  at  the 
Central  power  station  0.76  cent ;  and  in  the  total,  taking 
into  consideration  the  adverse  effect  of  the  three  old  and 
relatively  inefficient  stations,  the  final  cost  is  only  0.775 
cent. 

The  three  typical  modern  power  stations,  Dorchester, 
Harvard,  and  Lincoln,  show  operating  costs  of  a  most 
gratifying  character,  and  the  point  which  deserves  espe- 
cial notice  is  that  the  Dorchester  and  Harvard  stations, 
the  former  of  2,000  and  the  latter  of  3,600  kilowatts,  are 
perceptibly  better  in  performance  than  the  Central  power 
station  of  over  14,000  kilowatts,  and  the  Lincoln  power 


Electrical    Handbook  75 

station  of  over  S,ooo.  A  cost  of  power  of  seven-tenths  of 
a  cent  per  kilowatt  hour,  with  coal  at  $3.60  per  ton,  which 
was  the  actual  average  during  the  period  covered  by  the 
diagram,  is  so  low  as  to  leave  no  reasonable  margin  for 
the  losses  in,  and  cost  of,  high  voltage  transmission  and 
sub-station  work,  deriving  its  energy  from  a  central  power 
station.  Unquestionably,  part  of  the  excellence  of  the 
result  reached  is  due  to  the  fact  that  the  stations  are 
skillfully  handled,  not  only  as  units,  but  as  a  whole,  so 
that  the  load  factors  are  kept  high  as  far  as  it  is  possible 
to  keep  them  high  upon  a  street  railway  system.  An- 
other most  interesting  point  is  that  the  Central  station, 
with  hand  fired  boilers,  shows  a  lower  cost  for  coal  and 
labor  combined  than  either  the  Lincoln  or  Charlestown 
stations  with  mechanical  stokers.  Whatever  the  ex- 
planation may  be,  the-  uncompromising  fact  is  in  evi- 
dence. 

So  far  as  conditions  existing  here  in  Boston  are  con- 
cerned, this  diagram  is  a  complete  vindication  of  the 
wisdom  of  the  policy  which  has  been  pursued.  There  is 
very  small  probability  that,  using  any  present  prime 
movers  and  electrical  apparatus,  a  station  of  any  practi- 
cable size  located  on  tide-water  in  or  near  Boston,  could 
actually  turn  out  power  cheaply  enough  to  permit  econom- 
ical transmission  over  the  Boston  network  as  against 
stations  showing  the  performance  of  the  best  of  these  in- 
dividual stations,  or  even  of  the  average. 

There  may  be  opportunities  in  this  territory  for  the 
economical  transmission  of  power  to  sub-stations  (the 
conditions  which  exist  in  the  Boston  network  do  not 
necessarily  exist  in  other  localities) ;  but  taking  things  as 
they  are,  the  simplicity  of  the  method  and  the  excellence 
of  the  results  are  a  striking  lesson  in  the  intelligent  in- 
stallation and  management  of  medium  sized  station.s,  a 
lesson  which  engineers  in  other  parts  of  the  country 
would  do  well  to  take  to  heart,  at  least  to  the  extent  of 
investigating  carefully  the  conditions  of  power  genera- 
tion on  a  moderate  scale  in  connection  with  the  transmis- 
sion of  power  to  sub-stations.  There  is  no  final  and 
definite  solution  to  a  problem  such  as  tliis;  all  solutions 


jS  Electrical    H  andh  ook 

are  necessarily  special  and  proximate ;  but  the  results  at- 
tained in  the  practice  of  the  Boston  Elevated  Railway 
Company  are  certainly  worthy  the  solemn  consideration 
of  those  contemplating  the  construction  of  enormous 
generating  stations. 


T/ie  Massachusetts  Electric 
mnies 


CompL 


ASIDE  from  the  work  of  the  Boston  Elevated 
Railway  Company,  the  suburban  lines  in  the 
vicinity  of  Boston  are  in  the  hands  of  several 
organizations,  the  Newton  &  Boston  Street 
Railway,  the  Boston  &  Worcester  Street  Railway,  and 
other  corporations  ;  but  the  great  mass  of  the  work,  north 
and  south  of  the  city,  has  fallen  to  the  lot  of  the  Mas- 
sachusetts Electric  Companies.  This  organization  is  a 
voluntary  association  of  owners  of  stock  in  two  previously 
existing  large  street  railway  systems  and  in  one  electric 
light  company. 

The  larger  organization  was  formed  in  1899,  and  is 
managed  by  a  board  of  trustees,  who  hold  the  title  to  all 
its  assets.  Practically,  it  has  complete  control  of  the 
Hyde  Park  Electric  Light  Company  and  of  the  Boston 
&  Northern  and  the  Old  Colony  Street  Railway  Com- 
panies. These  last  two  had  previously  come  into  exist- 
ence through  the  virtual  consolidation  of  a  very  large 
number  of  interests.  Thirty-two  street  railway  com- 
panies have  thus  come  under  the  control  of  one  carefully 
managed  and  coherent  organization,  doing  an  immense 
business  north  and  south  of  Boston,  including  most  of 
the  street  railway  facilities  of  Massachusetts,  and  lines  as 
far  north  as  Nashua,  N.  H.,  and  extending  on  the  south 
as  far  as  Fall  River,  Newport,  and  Providence,  R.  I.,  and 
connecting  at  the  Boston  end  with  the  Boston  Elevated 
system.  The  southern  lines  were  grouped  under  the 
name  of  the  Old  Colony  Street  Railway  Company,  and 
the  northern  lines  under  the  name  of  the  Boston  & 
Northern  Street  Railway  Company,  the  two  street  rail- 
way components  of  the  present  Massachusetts  Electric 
Company,  and  in  fact  the  operators  of  the  north  and 
south  sections  of  the  network,  respectively. 
77 


78 


The    Boston 


Electrical    H  a  n  dh  o  ok 


79 


The  effect  of  this  wholesale  consolidation  has  been  to 
unify  the  rapid  transit  facilities  in  the  metropolitan  dis- 
trict and  in  the  farther  suburban  regions  to  a  remarkable 
degree.  The  process  is  still  going  on,  and,  as  will 
presently  be  explained,  the  problem  of  supplying  power 
economically  to  this  great  aggregation  of  roads  is  now  in 
prospect  of  solution.  Obviously,  wliile  each  one  of  an 
extensive  group  of  roads  may  originally  have  been  pro- 
vided with  power  by  a  system  correctly  designed  for  that 


Cable   Terminal  Station,   Uincktuu 


particular  road,  so  soon  as  pliysical  consolidation  of  the 
groups  has  taken  place,  conditions  are  cliangcd,  and  tlie 
former  points  of  power  supply  are  by  no  means  the  most 
economical  which  could  be  selected  to  meet  the  new 
conditions. 

From  an  engineering  standpoint  the  questions  thus 
arising  are  of  great  interest,  and  they  are  occupying  to- 
day a  large  part  of  the  attention  of  the  engineers  of  the 
ortranization  under  discussion.       It  is  to  be  understood 


8o 


The    Boston 


that  the  Old  Colony  Street  Railway  Company  and  the 
Boston  &  Northern  Street  Railway  Company,  although 
actually  closely  unified  as  the  Massachusetts  Electric 
Company,  are,  as  operating  companies,  still  in  active 
service,  and  are  united  merely  through  a  holding  com- 
pany, although  closely  enough  to  secure  the  practical 
benefits  of  a  more  elaborate  system  of  consolidation. 


Quincy  Point  Station.      Interior 


The  map  of  this  complicated  and  interesting  system 
will  give  a  clear  idea  of  the  nature  of  the  problem  of  dis- 
tribution involved  in  consolidating  the  generating  stations. 
The  great  new  station  at  Quincy  Point  is  the  main  elec- 
trical centre  of  the  southern  half  of  the  network.  The 
reorganization  of  the  power  supply  on  the  northern  half 
has  not  yet  been  finally  formulated.     The  Brockton  sub- 


Electrical    Handbook 


<?/ 


station  is  a  type  of  the  sub-stations  which  will  be  erected 
at  various  points  over  the  system.  It  comprises  a  neat 
brick  house,  with  entrance  for  high  tension  lines,  and, 
within,  reducing  transformers,  rotaries,  and  all  the  neces- 
sary switchboard  equipment.     In  the  case  of  this  sub- 


CJuincy  Point  Station.     Interior 


station  there  is  a  small  terminal  house  shown  in  one  of 
the  cuts,  where  the  high  tension  lines  come  in  for  union 
with  cables  joining  the  lines  to  the  sub-station. 

Many  of  the  power  houses  of  the  original  network 
were  of  comparatively  small  size,  and  there  is  excellent 
opportunity  for  a  large  saving  in  thus  distributing  power 


82 


The    Boston 


a 


Electrical    Handbook 


S: 


from  a  tide-water  station  where  it  can  be  generated  more 
economically  than  is  possible  in  isolated  stations  in  the 
outlying  country.  As  already  noted,  the  northern  net- 
work will  be  similarly  consolidated,  but  the  work  here 
is  not  yet  thoroughly  under  way.  The  whole  system  is 
most  interesting,  as  showing  the  extensive  ramifications 
of  the  rapid  transit  system  required  to  connect  a  me- 
tropolis like   Boston  with  the  outlying  tributary  country, 


Interior,   Brockton  Sub-station 


and  to  connect  in  that  country  the  various  centres  of 
population  with  each  other.  As  regards  eastern  Massa- 
chu.setts  this  task  has  been  accomplished  quite  thoroughly, 
more  thoroughly,  perhaps,  than  in  any  similar  territory  in 
the  country,  and  the  benefits  of  such  unification  have 
already  been  manifested  in  a  somewhat  striking  manner. 
As  the  work  goes  on,  and  the  system  becomes  more  and 
more  coherent  and  cooperative,  the  beneficial  effects  of 
single  management  will  be  felt  even  more  strikingly 
than  at  present. 

The  population  of  the  88  cities  and  towns  served  by 
this  organization  according  to  the  last  census  is  1,639,875. 


84 


The    Boston 


The  systems  have  a  total  mileage  as  follows :  Old  Colony 
Street  Railway  Company,  383.22  miles;  Boston  and 
Northern  Street  Railway  Company,  487.90  miles  ;  total  of 
871.12  miles.  For  the  last  fiscal  year  ending  September 
30,  1903,  these  companies  carried  122,011,604  passengers 
and  operated  cars  24,051,621  miles,  and  its  employees 
numbered  3,834.  They  have  an  equipment  of  approxi- 
mately 2,000  cars. 

As  a  matter  of  historical  information  and  also  to  show 
the  growth  of  the  street  railway  system  in  Eastern  Massa- 


Exterior,   Brockton  Sub-station 


chusetts,  it  may  be  of  interest  to  state  here  the  advance 
ment  of  the  original  or  pioneer  companies,  making  up  the 
present  system. 

In  1881  these  so-called  pioneer  companies  were 
operating  with  horses  in  the  cities  of  Lowell,  Lawrence, 
Haverhill,  Salem,  Lynn,  Brockton,  Taunton,  and  Fall 
River.  The  year  ending  September  30,  1881,  the  mileage 
of  these  Companies  was  49.50  miles.  The  first  of  the 
original  companies  to  organize  as  a  street  railway  corpo- 
ration was  the  Lynn  and  Boston  Horse  Railroad,  which 
was  incorporated  April  6,  1850.     Its  charter  called  for  a 


Electrical    Handbook  Sj 

location  from  the  Town  of  North  Chelsea, through  Saugus, 
to  the  City  of  l^ynn.  Very  few  extensions  of  track  were 
made  by  these  several  companies,  until  the  use  of  elec- 
tricity as  a  motive  power  had  become  a  known  success. 
On  November  i,  1888,  the  East  Side  Street  Railway 
Company  of  Brockton  began  to  operate  an  electrical  line 
4.25  miles  in  length,  the  cars  being  equipped  with  Sprague 
motors.  The  City  of  Salem  operated  its  first  electrical 
line  in  1888,  Lowell  in  1889,  Lynn  in  1S90,  and  Fall  River, 
Haverliill  and  Taunton  in  1893. 

From  1893  to  1896  many  miles  of  track  were  recon- 
structed by  the  old  companies,  and  extensions  were  made 
and  various  new  companies  entered  the  field  connecting 
the  towns  with  the  cities.  So  great  was  the  growth  of 
the  street  railway  system  at  this  period  that  it  led  the 
Chairman  of  the  Board  of  Railroad  Commissioners  to 
make  the  following  prediction  in  his  report  for  the  year 
ending  September  30,  1896: 

"One  can  hardly  fail  to  be  impressed  with  the  growing 
importance  and  magnitude  of  the  service  which  the  elec- 
trical railway  is  rendering  the  public.  Itmustbe  accepted 
as  an  absolute  necessity  and  an  abiding  factor  in  the  life 
of  at  least  the  present  and  the  coming  generations,  and  it 
is  to  be  dealt  with  as  such." 

Immediately  upon  the  consolidation  of  the  various 
properties  now  making  up  the  two  operating  companies 
of  the  Massaciuisetts  Electric  Companies,  steps  were 
taken  to  bring  about  more  uniform  methods  of  operating. 
Through  lines  between  cities,  where  they  had  been  here- 
tofore split  up  on  account  of  divided  interests,  were  run. 
Creater  transfer  privileges  were  granted  the  public,  and 
in  many  instances  fares  were  reduced.  There  has  also 
been  an  effort  made  to  standardize  the  equipments  of  tlie 
Companies,  and  in  fact  a  general  reorganization  of  the 
various  departments  of  the  companies  followed  the 
consolidation. 

One  of  the  greatest  problems  which  confronted  the 
management  of  these  companies  was  that  of  insufficient 
l)()wer.  By  the  consolidation  of  these  various  street  rail- 
ways it  brought  into  the  system  nineteen  power  stations, 
which,  of  course,  had  a  great  variety  of  equipments.  In 
many  stations  it  was  found  that  the  original  e(|uipments  in- 
stalled anumber  of  years  before  were  in  operation.     Ahmy 


86  T he    B  0 si  on 

of  these  stations  were  poorly  located  for  the  proper  dis- 
tribution of  the  current  generated,  and  early  in  the  year 
of  1903  it  was  planned  to  install  a  high  tension  alternating 
system  for  supplying  current  to  nearly  all  of  the  lines  in- 
cluded in  the  Massachusetts  Electric  Companies'property, 
and  with  this  end  in  view,  the  Company  started  immedi- 
ately upon  the  construction  of  a  steam  turbine  station  at 
Quincy,  Massachusetts,  aggregating  fifteen  thousand 
horse-power. 

This  location  was  selected  as  being  a  desirable  one  on 
account  of  the  facilities  afforded  in  the  matter  of  obtain- 
ing fuel.  It  is  located  on  tide  water  in  the  City  of  Quincy 
on  property  which  has  been  partly  reclaimed  by  filling, 
and  it  is  proposed  to  make  extensive  additions  by  build- 
ing a  concrete  retaining  wall  at  approximately  the  line  of 
mean  low-water  level,  utilizing  the  ash  from  the  power 
house  as  filling  material. 

The  station  is  a  combined  steel  and  larick  building,  one 
hundred  and  sixty  feet  long,  one  hundred  and  twenty-one 
feet  wide.  The  buildiing  is  now  complete.  The  boilers 
have  all  been  set  and  are  in  operation,  furnishing  steam 
to  the  old  Quincy  plant  which  supplies  power  to  the  local 
territory  adjoining  Quincy.  and  to  a  temporary  station 
which  is  now  sending  current  to  the  sub-station  at  Brock- 
ton. Work  is  progressing  rapidly  on  the  installation  of 
the  turbines  and  it  is  expected  to  have  them  in  operation 
about  September  i,  1904. 

It  is  also  proposed  to  erect  a  turbine  station  at  Fall 
River,  having  a  capacity  of  twelve  thousand  horse-power, 
and  upon  the  completion  of  both  the  stations,  eleven 
direct  current  stations  will  be  shut  down. 

The  turbines  which  are  being  installed  at  Quincy  are 
of  the  Curtis  vertical  type,  made  by  the  General  Electric 
Company. 

Both  of  these  central  stations  will  generate  alternating 
current  at  13,200  volts,  three-phase,  twenty-five  cycles, 
and  the  current  will  pass  at  this  voltage  to  the  three-phase 
transformers.  The  alternating  current  from  the  two 
central  stations  will  be  received  in  nine  sub-stations,  dis- 
tributed over  the  territory  so  that  each  sub-station  will 
serve  an  area  of  about  five  miles  in  each  direction  from 
the  sub-station  location.     The  size  and  number  of  rotary 


Electrical    Handbook  Sj 

converters  and  transformers  at  each  sub-station  will  be 
proportional  to  the  load  to  be  carried  at  each.  The 
13,200  volt,  twenty-five  cycle,  three-phase  current  will  be 
received  from  the  transmission  line  at  each  sub  station 
and  transformed  to  350-370  volt,  alternate  current  for 
distribution  to  the  rotary  converters. 

The  rotary  converters  and  transformers  will  be  fur- 
nished by  the  General  Electric  Company,  and  each  rotary 
will  be  served  by  one  three-phase  transformer  instead  of 
three  single  phase  transformers  as  are  commonly  used  in 
electric  railway  work.  In  other  words,  the  three  trans- 
formers will  be  combined  into  a  single  piece  of  apparatus. 

The  two  central  power  stations  will  be  tied  together 
so  that  each  station  can  supply  various  combinations  of 
sub-stations,  thus  introducing  considerable  flexibility  in 
running  and  rendering  a  complete  shut  down  of  any 
station  of  the  system  a  very  remote  possibility. 

The  nine  sub-stations  are  to  be  located  as  follows: 
Quincy  Point,  Milton,  Rockland,  Bridgewater,  Brockton, 
Lakeville,  Taunton,  Portsmouth,   Fall  River. 

Except  in  the  size  and  number  of  units,  the  substations 
will  be  very  similar  in  design  to  that  of  the  Brockton  sub- 
station, the  idea  being  in  each  case  to  simplify  the 
apparatus  as  much  as  possible. 

The  lines  north  of  Boston  now  receive  power  from  ten 
separate  power  stations.  Five  of  these  stations  will  be 
displaced  by  one  .steam  turbine  station,  aggregating  nine 
thousand  horsepower,  to  be  located  at  Danvers,  Massa- 
chusetts. This  location  was  selected  as  having  the  ad- 
vantage of  being  located  on  tide-water  as  in  the  case  of 
the  Quincy  Station.  Plans  for  this  development  have 
not  yet  been  fully  perfected,  and  work  for  the  present 
will  be  confined  to  the  rearrangement  of  the  power  facili- 
ties on  the  lines  south  of  Boston.  The  accompanying 
map  of  the  Boston  and  Northern  and  Old  Colony  Com- 
panies shows  the  oldpower  stations  as  well  as  the  three 
new  turbines'  stations  and  the  sub-stations,  which  the 
main  generating  plants  are  to  supply  current  to. 

In  addition  to  the  three  turbine  stations  here  outlined, 
the  Old  Colony  Street  Railway  Company  has,  at  the 
present  time,  a  small  combined  electric  lighting  and  rail- 
way station  at  Newport,   Rliode  Island,  with  three  one 


88  Electrical    Handbook 

thousand  horse-power  turbo-generators,  which  was  built 
somewhat  as  an  experimental  station  for  the  purpose  of 
determining  the  best  designs  for  many  of  the  minor  de- 
tails connected  with  steam  turbine  work.  This  station 
has  now  been  in  operation  for  a  number  of  months,  and 
it  can  be  definitely  stated  that  in  spite  of  minor  difficulties 
which  might  well  be  expected  at  any  new  station,  the 
Newport  plant  has  been  operating  in  an  economical  and 
satisfactory  manner. 

As  to  the  transmission  of  the  current  from  the  central 
plants  to  the  sub-stations,  the  Old  Colony  Street  Railway 
Company  proposes  to  obtain  rights  of  way  fifty  feet  wide 
for  a  distance  of  about  one  hundred  miles,  for  carrying  the 
13,200-volt  current.  The  transmission  wires  are  aluminum 
cables  equivalent  to  252,000  cm.  capacity  in  copper. 

Terminal  houses  are  located  where  it  has  been  neces- 
sary to  conduct  underground  cable  from  the  pole  line  to 
the  sub-stations. 

It  is  proposed  to  expend  for  this  work  of  constructing 
these  several  turbine  stations  and  transmission  lines  with 
sub-stations,  approximately  three  million  dollars. 

In  addition  to  the  above  street  railway  interests,  the 
Massachusetts  Electric  Companies  control  and  operate 
the  Hyde  Park  Electric  Light  Company.  This  Company 
does  a  general  commercial  and  incandescent  lighting 
business  in  the  town  of  Hyde  Park.  There  is  also  an 
illuminating  department  in  the  Old  Colony  Street  Rail- 
way Company,  located  in  Newport,  Rhode  Island,  which 
does  a  business  similar  to  that  of  the  Hyde  Park  Electric 
Light  Company. 

There  will  be  added  during  the  present  year  to  the 
equipment  of  the  northern  system,  a  large  central  opera- 
ting car-house  at  Salem,  which  is  to  displace  several 
small  ones.  There  is  also  to  be  erected  at  Hyde  Park  a 
large  operating  house. 

The  General  Offices  of  the  Company  are  located  at 
84  State  Street,  Boston,  and  the  Division  Offices  are  lo- 
cated as  follows  :  Old  Colony  Street  Railway  Company  — 
Hyde  Park,  Taunton,  Quincy,  Fall  River,  Brockton,  New- 
port,R.  I.  Boston  &  Northern  Street  Railway  Company  — 
Chelsea,  Gloucester,  Lynn,  Lowell,  Wakefield,  Lawrence, 
§alem,  Nashua,  N.  H.,  Haverhill. 


The  Ediso/i  Electric  Illuminating 
Company 

JUST  as  the  rapid  transit  of  Boston  and  of  eastern 
Massachusetts  has  been  gathered  into  the  cus- 
tody of  a  few  strong  and  carefully  managed  cor- 
porations, so  the  electric  lighting  of  the  Metro- 
jjolilan  district  has  gradually  been  consolidated,  until 
it  is  now,  for  the  most  part,  in  the  extremely  compe- 
tent hands  of  the  Edison  Electric  Illuminating  Com- 
pany, of  Boston.  Small  stations  for  electric  lighting 
suffer  in  just  the  same  way  that  small  stations  for  rail- 
way power  generation  suffer,  particularly  when  they 
are  necessarily  located  away  from  the  sea-coast. 

Here  in  Massachusetts  fuel  is  a  serious  matter.  The 
costs  are  high,  and  unless  one  can  have  the  advantage 
of  a  station  on  the  water  front,  there  will  be  serious  ad- 
dition to  the  cost  of  energy  produced  by  the  necessity 
of  transporting  coal  by  rail.  Moreover,  it  is  well  un- 
derstood that  small  lighting  stations  are  extremely 
difficult  to  design  for  a  high  general  level  of  efficiency, 
and  that  consolidation  of  a  number  of  plants,  if  physi- 
cally practicable,  is  likely  to  improve  the  economy  of 
power  generation. 

Bearing  this  in  mind,  the  Edison  Company  has 
steadily  pursued  the  policy  of  adding  to  its  territory 
more  and  more  of  the  Metropolitan  district,  extending 
into  it  its  high  tension  network,  and  supplying  it  more 
and  more  from  the  great  central  station  in  Boston. 
Producing  power  on  the  scale  there  undertaken,  it  can 
j)rofitably  be  transmitted  considerable  distances  in  com- 
jjetition  with  the  small  lighting  plants  which  previously 
did  the  work,  and  the  result  has  been  a  happy  one. 
The  engineering  problems  involved  in  this  wholesale 
distribution  arc  of  a  most  intricate  character,  because 


go 


The    Boston 


Electrical    Handbook 


91 


the  plants  gradually  acquired  represent  almost  every 
conceivable  system  of  electric  lighting,  operated  by  al- 
most every  method  known  in  the  art.  The  organiza- 
tion of  these  various  services  into  one  general  system  is 
a  formidable  task,  but  it  has  thus  far  been  carried  out 
with  a  very  gratifying  measure  of  success. 

Of  special  interest  to  engineers  is  the  system  of  gen- 
eration and  distribution  organized  to  replace  the  di- 


Exterior,  Atlantic   Avenue  Station 


verse  systems  previously  in  use.  Its  centre  is  the 
great  L  Street  station  in  South  Boston,  and  some  of  the 
features  of  this  very  important  installation,  together 
with  the  story  of  the  growth  of  the  original  enterprise 
to  its  present  colossal  dimensions,  is  an  interesting 
chajUer  in  electrical  history. 

The  Edison  Electric  Illuminating  Comjjany  of  Bos- 
ton was  organized  December  26,  1885,  with  a  capital 


g2  The    Boston 

stock  of  $100,000,  which  included  the  payment  of 
$35,000  to  the  Edison  Electric  Light  Company,  the 
parent  Company  for  license  rights  under  the  Edison 
patents.  This  contract  for  rights  limited  the  opera- 
tions of  the  Company  to  an  area  of  about  70  acres  in 
the  business  centre  of  the  city.  The  plant  which  formed 
the  nucleus  of  the  new  enterprise  consisted  of  one  200 
horse-power  Babcock  &  Wilcox  boiler,  and  one  go 
horse-power  Armington    &  Sims  engine,   driving  two 


Low  Tension   Station,   Edison  Illuminating  Company 


Edison  type,  H-dynamos  having  a  capacity  of  about 
400  lights  each,  installed  originally  in  the  basement  of 
a  printing  office  near  the  corner  of  Boylston  and  Tre- 
mont  Street. 

The  Company  having  then  obtained  a  franchise 
from  the  city,  moved  this  modest  initial  plant  into  a 
two-story  brick  building,  the  lower  floor  of  which  had 
been  previously  used  as  a  stable  and  the  upper  one  as 
a  tenement.     This  station  was  started  on  February  20, 


Electrical    Handbook 


93 


^jf.  T  h  c    B  0  st  0  n 

1886,  and  the  first  customer  to  be  supplied  with  elec- 
tricity for  lif^hting  was  the  Bijou  Theatre  on  the  occa- 
sion of  a  production  of  "lolanthe." 

This  station  in  Boston  was  probably  the  first  general 
power  station  of  any  size  in  the  world,  as  previous  to 
this  time  there  is  no  record  of  more  than  a  few  motors 
being  operated  from  a  single  plant,  while  the  Boston 
station  by  1887  was  supplying  current  to  92  motors 
with  an  aggregate  capacity  of  300  horse-power. 

The  Edison  Company  of  to-day,  grown  to  a  corpora- 
tion of  $10,444,500  capital  stock,  with  19,000  customers, 
occupies  exclusively  a  territory  of  approximately  290 
square  miles,  having,  in  the  course  of  this  extension, 
acquired  through  various  purchases  and  consolidations 
13  original  companies,  operating  some  26  indc])endent 
steam  and  water  power  plants. 

It  would  be  unprofitable  to  go  into  the  intermediate 
steps  leading  up  to  the  consolidation  and  combination 
of  the  various  distributing  systems  and  to  the  final 
wiping  out  of  all  but  two  generating  stations.  The  re- 
sult of  these  operations  is  best  shown  in  the  annexed 
maps,  the  first  of  which  shows  the  approximate  loca- 
tions of  the  various  generating  stations  of  the  diflferen 
companies,  while  the  second  shows  the  two  generating 
stations  and  various  transforming  stations  of  the  pres- 
ent Company  for  supplying  the  same  territory. 

The  distribution  system  for  the  entire  territory  may 
be  roughly  divided  into  two  parts.  The  Edison  low 
tension  system  supplies  all  the  current  for  lighting  and 
power  within  the  limits  of  the  city  proper,  an  area  of 
approximately  8.8  square  miles.  The  remainder  of  the 
territory  is  supplied  with  alternating  current  exclu- 
sively. The  Edison  low  tension  plant  for  the  city  dis- 
trict is  situated  on  the  water  front  of  Atlantic  Avenue 
It  has  a  capacity  of  12,000  k.w.,  supplemented  by  a 
storage  battery  of  1,456  k.w.  hours.  The  area  sup- 
plied by  this  station  is  included  within  a  circle  having 
a  radius  of  about  4,000  feet.  The  balance  of  the  low 
tension  district  is  supplied  through  sub-stations,  re- 
ceiving their  supply  from  the  great  alternating  plant 


Electrical    Handbook 


95 


p<5  T  h  e    B  0  s  I  0  u 

in  South  Boston.  All  sub-stations  in  this  territory  are 
equipped  with  motor  generators,  backed  up  by  storage 
batteries.  The  total  storage  battery  capacity  installed 
in  this  district  amounts  to  5,788  k.w.  at  one  hour  rate, 
being  about  48  per  cent  of  the  maximum  demand  for 
low  tension  current. 

The  present  high  tension  alternating  plant  just  re- 
ferred to  supplies  current  for  all  the  outlying  territory. 
This  station  has  a  capacity  of  10,500  k.w.  in  three- 
phase  generators  of  1,500  k.w.  each,  at  2,300  volts  and 
66  cycles. 

Immediately  adjacent  to  this  station  the  Company  is 
just  completing  a  plant  to  be  equipped  with  turbine 
generators.  As  this  is  an  entirely  new  type  of  appa- 
ratus for  this  country,  a  rather  complete  description  of 
the  plant  is  worth  giving. 

The  station  is  planned  for  an  ultimate  equipment  of 
twelve  5,000  k.w.  units.  Two  of  these  are  being  in- 
stalled at  present,  and  the  building  is  large  enough  to 
hold  two  additional  units.  The  building  is  of  steel 
frame  construction,  finished  on  the  interior  with  enam- 
elled brick  and  Grueby  tile,  the  turbine  room  being 
68  feet  wide,  650  feet  long,  and  565  feet  high.  It  is  the 
intention  to  divide  the  completed  station  of  12  units 
into  three  entirely  separate  rooms  of  4  units  each,  in 
order  to  minimize  disturbances  due  to  possible  acci- 
dents of  any  kind. 

Beneath  the  turbine  room  floor  and  running  length- 
wise in  the  centre  of  the  building  are  three  brick  tun- 
nels for  conveying  cooling  water  to  the  condensers. 
Two  of  these  are  suction  or  intake  tunnels  with  cross 
sections  of  about  56  square  feet  each.  One  will  run 
the  full  length  of  the  completed  building  and  the  other 
one-half  the  length.  Six  of  the  turbines  are  to  be 
supplied  from  each  tunnel.  The  third  or  discharge 
tunnel  will  run  the  full  length  of  the  building  with  a 
cross  section  of  78  square  feet,  and  will  discharge  the 
water  for  all  the  turbines.  Two  intake  tunnels  were 
provided  to  facilitate  cleaning  out  when  necessary. 
The   tunnels   are   all    built   of   horseshoe   section     and 


Electrical    Handbook 


97 


consist  of  three  ring  arches  of  sewer  brick  incased  in 
concrete  envelopes  2  feet  thick. 

The  bottom  of  the  tunnels  is  at  grade  —  13'  6", 
being  295  feet  below  the  turbine  room  floor.  Connec- 
tion is  made  with  these  tunnels  by  si.\  groups  of  man- 
holes, each  group  being  located  centrally  between  a 
pair  of  turbines.  The  tunnel  intakes  have  an  elaborate 
construction  of  concrete  at  the  sea  wall,  with  gates  and 
screens.  There  is  also  a  timber  bulkhead  running  out 
80  feet  beyond  the  sea  wall  to  prevent  the  discharge 
water  from  mixing  with  the  incoming  water. 


Xjj^ 


Elevation,  L  Street  Station 


The  i)oiler  room  for  the  present  plant  occupies  a 
building  149  feet  wide  by  640  feet  long.  The  base- 
ment or  ash  room  floor  is  on  the  same  level  as  the  tur- 
bine room  floor,  the  boilers  themselves  being  set  on 
the  second  floor,  18  feet  above.  A  portion  of  the  ash 
room  floor  surrounding  the  chimney  is  walled  off  and 
reserved  for  all  the  main  piping  of  the  boiler  house, 
where  it  can  be  kept  free  from  dust,  and  rea.sonably 
warm.     The  boilers  are  grouped  difTcrently  from  old 


g8  T  he    B  0  si  0  n 

station  practice,  in  that  the  requisite  number  of  boilers 
to  supply  one  turbine  are  grouped  in  a  row  at  a  right 
angle  with  the  turbine  room,  the  main  steam  pipe 
running  under  each  row  of  boilers  and  going  directly 
to  the  turbine  in  line  with  that  row. 

These  dilTerent  mains  are  connected  by  cross  pipes, 
which  will  normally  be  kept  closed,  but  which  will 
make  it  possible  to  run  a  turbine  from  an  adjacent 
battery  of  boilers.  Above  the  boilers  and  practically 
above  the  roof  of  the  main  portion  of  the  boiler  house 
are  coal  bunkers  to  hold  44  tons  of  coal  per  boiler. 
These  are  made  of  reinforced  concrete  walls.  Above 
these  coal  bunkers  is  a  rubber  belt  for  bringing  in  coal 
from  the  storage  yard.  Between  each  two  rows  of 
boilers,  and  central  with  the  rows,  is  located  a  chimney 
for  two  groups,  six  chimneys  being  planned  for  the 
completed  station.  These  are  built  of  hollow  radial 
brick,  250  feet  high,  and  16  feet  internal  diameter  at  the 
top  without  lining.  Each  chimney  is  equipped  with 
external  and  internal  ladders  and  lightning  rods.  It  is 
the  intention  to  divide  the  completed  boiler  house  into 
separate  sections  in  the  same  manner  as  described  for 
the  turbine  room. 

The  switch  house  is  located  between  the  turbine 
room  and  the  old  station,  and  is  entirely  separated  from 
the  turbine  room.  One  end  of  the  switch  house  is 
reserved  for  a  few  necessary  oflftces  in  connection  with 
the  operation  of  the  plant.  The  balance  of  the  build- 
ing is  divided  into  three  floors.  The  first  is  a  cable 
room  where  the  various  cables  from  the  generators 
and  outgoing  feeders  are  terminated  in  two  rows,  run- 
ning lengthwise  of  the  entire  building,  immediately 
under  the  switches.  The  second  story  is  occupied  by 
the  bus  bars,  and  the  third  by  the  high  tension  oil 
switches.  For  a  distance  of  about  120  feet  in  the 
centre  of  the  switch  house  another  story  is  added  for 
the  operating  room,  containing  all  the  instruments  and 
controls  for  the  various  switches  and  regulating  mechan- 
isms. Nothing  but  low  tension  current  is  brought  to 
this  floor. 


Electrical    Handbook 


99 


The  total  area  covered  by  these  buildings  is  160,000 
square  feet,  giving  2.66  square  feet  of  ground  per 
k.w.  capacity,  as  compared  with  1.27  square  feet  for  the 
Metropolitan  Station  in  New  York  and  0.96  square 
foot  for  the  station  of  the  New  York  Edison  Company. 
There  has  been  provided  an  open-air  storage  yard  for 
coal,  with  a  capacity  at  the  present  time  of  from  60,000 
to  70,000  tons,  and  capable  of  being  increased  to 
double  that  amount  when  needed.  This  large  storage 
is  provided  that  it  may  be  possible  to  receive  all  the 


Section,   L  Street  Station 


coal  during  the  four  summer  months  when  freights  are 
low,  and  also  as  a  protection  again.st  delays  due  to 
storms  or  strikes. 

On  the  wharf  there  arc  two  discharging  towers  for 
coal:  one  equipped  on  the  Ward  Leonard  system,  with 
a  capacity  of  about  600  tons  of  coal  a  day,  the  other 
with  a  cajjacity  of  about  1,000  tons  of  coal  a  day, 
operated  by  hydraulic  cylinders,  supplied  by  a  high 
pre.ssure    centrifugal    pump,    driven    by    an    induction 


lOO 


The    Boston 


motor.  These  cylinders  operate  under  a  pressure  of 
about  200  pounds  to  the  square  inch.  Coal  is  carried 
from  the  wharf  into  the  storage  yard  and  into  the 
station  by  endless  rubber  belts,  and  is  distributed  over 
the  storage  yard  or  brought  back  to  the  behs  by  means 
of  a  large  travelling  crane,  covering  the  entire  storage 
yard.  This  crane  is  238  feet  long,  and  is  operated  by 
500-volt  direct  current  motors.  The  boilers  of  the  new 
plant    are    Babcock    &   Wilcox,    rated   at   512   horse- 


Generating  Station,  Edison   Illuminating  Company 


power  each,  built  for  225  pounds  pressure,  equipped 
with  Roney  mechanical  stokers,  of  no  square  feet  of 
grate  surface  each,  and  operated  by  induction  motors. 
No  economizers  are  being  installed  at  present.  Pro- 
vision has,  however,  been  made  to  permit  their  instal- 
lation on  future  units  when  it  is  demonstrated  that 
they  will  pay  under  the  e.xisting  conditions  of  service. 
The  turbines  are  furnished  by  the  General  Electric 
Company,  Curtis  type,  4  stage,  and  have  surface  con- 


Electrical    Handbook 


lOI 


densers  installed  directly  on  their  bases.  A  detailed 
description  of  these  machines  seems  hardly  necessary 
here.  They  occupy  each  a  floor  space  somewhat  less 
than  one-half  that  required  for  one  of  the  1,500  k.  \v. 
units  in  the  old  station.  The  generator  for  each  is  a 
60-cycle,  three-phase,  revolving  field  machine,  wound 
for  6,900  volts.  This  voltage  was  adopted  as  a  multiple 
of  the  115  volts  supplied  to  all  the  low  tension  services. 


Turbine  Station,   Edison   Illuminating  Company 


The  turbines  run  at  514  revolutions  per  minute,  and 
weigh  115  tons  above  the  condenser.  The  condensers 
are  of  the  surface  type,  each  of  20,000  square  feet  sur- 
face, with  four  passes  for  the  circulating  water.  The 
condenser  tubes  are  of  brass,  one  inch  in  diameter  and 
16  feet  long.  Circulating  water  for  each  condenser  is 
provided  by  a  24  in.  centrifugal  pump,  direct  driven  by 
a  horizontal  simple  engine  at  250  revolutions  a  minute. 
'I'he  vapor  of  condensation  is  removed  by  means  of  one 


70-?  The    Boston 

rotary  dry-air  pump,  also  steam  driven.  The  water 
of  condensation  is  removed  by  a  4  in.  centrifuj^al  pumj), 
placed  below  the  level  of  the  bottom  of  the  condenser. 
The  boiler  feed  pumps  are  placed  in  the  turbine  room 
with  the  other  auxiliaries.  They  are  horizontal,  centre 
packed  plunger,  duplex  pumps  with  water  plungers 
12  in.  in  diameter,  and  15  in.  stroke.  One  pump  is 
provided  for  each  boiler  room  installation  and  one 
spare  pump  for  the  entire  installation. 

The  step  bearings  for  the  turbines  will  be  carried 
on  water  under  a  pressure  of  about  900  pounds  per 
square  inch.  This  pressure  will  be  furnished  by  hori- 
zontal, steam  driven,  duplex  plunger  pumps,  w^ith  a 
12  in.  weighted  accumulator  for  each  turbine.  The 
water  of  condensation  will  all  be  returned  to  the  boilers. 
The  high  pressure  steam  system  is  of  steel  pipe  through- 
out, with  gun  metal  fittings  and  valves.  All  important 
valves  of  the  system  are  so  arranged  that  they  can  be 
operated  from  two  points  which  are  separated  from 
one  another  by  a  solid  wall.  The  large  valves  are  all 
operated  by  motors. 

Passing  now  to  the  switch  house,  the  bus  bars  are 
in  duplicate,  each  feeder  being  equipped  with  two 
selector  switches  and  each  generator  with  two  selector 
switches  and  one  main  switch.  All  oil  switches  are 
operated  by  motors.  The  bus  bars  are  bare  aluminum, 
incased  in  brick  cells.  All  wiring  not  carried  in  ducts 
in  the  floor  is  covered  with  flame  proof  braid  on  the 
outside  of  rubber.  Provision  is  made  for  cutting  the 
bus  bars  into  sections  by  means  of  oil  switches  in  order 
that  it  may  not  be  necessary  to  run  all  the  generators 
in  parallel,  if  it  should  be  found  that  troubles  due  to 
burn-outs  would  be  lessened  thereby. 

Excitation  for  the  generators  is  supplied  at  125  volts 
by  motor  generators,  backed  up  by  a  storage  battery 
of  1,000  amperes  capacity  at  a  one-hour  rate  of  dis- 
charge. 

The  old  station  adjoining  this  new  plant  operating 
at  2,300  volts,  4,500  k.w.  capacity  in  transformers 
has  been  installed   for  connecting  the   2,300-volt    bus 


Electrical    Handbook 


lo. 


bars  with  the  6,900  volt  system.  It  will  probably  be 
some  time  before  it  will  be  necessary  to  run  both  these 
stations  through  the  entire  24  hours.  Current  is  dis- 
tributed from  the  alternating  plant  to  all  of  the 
substations  in  the  P^dison  district  by  means  of  three- 
conductor  underground  cables.  All  cables  now  being 
installed  are  insulated  for  6,900  volts.  Current  is  car- 
ried to  the  outlying  district  by  means  of  underground 
cables  through  the   city  proper,  and   beyond  that  by 


cz 

— c 

c 


1900 
1899 


550.000  500,000  450,000  400,000  350,000  300,000  250.000  200,000  150,000   100,000   50,000 
1 rCONNECTED  LOAD,  INCANDESCENTS 

The  Growth  of  Incandescent  Lighting 


means  of  overhead  wires  of  aluminum.  Three  trunk 
lines  are  being  constructed,  one  for  the  southern  dis- 
trict, one  for  the  western,  and  one  for  the  northern,  the 
longest  transmission  being  27  miles.  All  these  latter 
installations  arc  being  constructed  for  15,000  volts,  and 
all  sub-station  transformers  are  constructed  with  double 
windings,  so  that  the  pressure  may  be  doul)lc(l  when 
business  demands  it.  The  present  tie  transformers 
between  the  2,300  and  6,900  volt  stations  arc  arranged 
for  connection  to  give  15,000  volts  when  needed.  The 
pole  lines  are  constructed  of  chestnut  poles,  8  in.  in 
diameter  at  the  top,  equipped  with  triple  petticoat,  glass 
insulators,  and  the  wires  are  spaced  30  in.  on  centres. 
The  three  wires  for  each  pha.se  are  arranged  in  a  vertical 


10  4- 


Electrical    Handbook 


plane,  so  that  all  wires  on  any  one  cross  arm  are  of 
the  same  potential.  It  was  thought  that  this  might 
give  some  additional  security  against  short  circuits  due 
to  anything  falling  across  the  line.  All  high  tension 
switchboards  in  the  sub-stations  are  equipped  with 
oil  switches,  and  are  built  in  cellular  form.  The  an- 
nexed diagrams  show  the  growth  of  the  different 
classes  of  service.  The  gross  income  of  the  company 
for  the  year  1904  was  $3,125,516. 


1904 

JJ 

a. 

L 

— 

-i- 

L_ 

[ZZ 

Zl 

1902 
1901 

a; 

^ 

i 

= 

— 

19(1(1 

s 

I" 

1 

1899 

^ 

»— 

— , 

IH9H 

1 

1897 

■■= 

rr:r 

1896 

3 

IMH.*) 

■ 

1894 

1893 

1 

1892 
1891 

i\  1 

i«ao 

.„  J 

1889 

— 1 

1388 
1887 

\ 

' 

3,000   6,000   9,000   12,000  15,000  18,000  21,000  24,000 

CONNECTEb  LOAD,  ARCS         CZH  CONNECTED  LOAD,  HORSE  POWER 
Increase  of  Arc  Lights  and  Motors 


Electrical  Manufactiirifig 

ASIDE  from  the  large  operating  companies, 
Boston  has  no  small  number  of  diversified 
electrical  industries.  The  large  electric  man- 
ufacturing companies  elsewhere  in  the  coun- 
try maintain  offices  here  to  take  care  of  the  New 
England  trade,  and,  in  particular,  the  General  Electric 
Company  and  the  Westinghouse  Electric  and  Manu- 
facturing Company  maintain  district  offices,  with  a 
large  sales  and  engineering  force  actively  engaged  in 
meeting  the  electrical  demands  of  New  England. 

Although  this  territory  has  been  steadily  developed 
from  the  beginnings  of  electrical  work  in  this  country, 
the  field  is  very  far  from  being  exhausted,  and  nu- 
merous and  large  installations  are  yet  to  be  made. 

The  manufacturing  business  of  the  large  companies 
is,  however,  for  the  most  part  carried  on  elsewhere, 
save  for  the  Lynn  works  of  the  General  Electric  Com- 
pany, which  themselves  form  an  industrial  group  of 
the  first  magnitude,  and  which  are  interesting  as  being 
the  original  seat  of  the  old  Thorrson-Houston  Com- 
pany, and  as  having  in  this  capacity  taken  a  very  large 
part  in  the  development  of  the  arc-lighting  and  electric 
traction  fields  throughout  the  country. 

THE  LYNN  WORKS   OF   THE   GENERAL 
ELECTRIC    COMPANY 

The  Thomson-Houston  Electric  Company  —  which 
had  for  its  principal  factory  the  works  in  Lynn,  until 
the  consolidation  in  1892  with  the  Edison  General 
Company,  forming  the  General  Electric  Company  — 
was  one  of  the  pioneer  enterprises  based  uy)on  the  busi- 
ness of  series  arc-lighting.  It  was,  in  fact,  the  successor 
of  the  American  Electric  Company,  which  had  been 
105 


io6 


T  h  e    B  0  s  t  0  n 


organized  in  New  Britain,  Conn.,  in  the  year  1880,  for 
manufacturing  under  the  patents  of  Professors  Elihu 
Thomson  and  P^dwin  J.  Houston;  such  patents  relating 
chiefly  to  apparatus  used  in  series  arc-lighting.  The 
particular  system  became  known  as  the  Thomson- 
Houston  system,  among  the  chief  distinguishing  fea- 
tures of  which  was  the  constant  current  regulator, 
which  enabled  a  predetermined  current  to  be  main- 
tained on  the  line,  despite  the  variations  of  load,  and 
which  also  allowed  the  arc-lamps  to  be  standardized 
or    permanently  adjusted    to    work   with    a    standard 


VI^JV 


The  Old  Thomson-Houston  Works,  New  Britain,  Conn. 


current.     They  thus  became    readily    interchangeable 
from  one  circuit  to  another. 

In  1882  the  control  of  the  business  was  obtained  by 
a  number  of  Lynn  capitalists,  and  in  the  following 
year  the  factory  was  transferred  from  New  Britain  to 
West  Lynn,  Massachusetts.  The  enterprise  then  occu- 
pied the  building  consisting  of  a  three-story  structure, 
situated  on  Western  Avenue,  Lynn,  which  building  is 


Electrical    Handbook 


lOJ 


still  in  use  under  the  designation  of  "Factory  A." 
When  the  work  was  started  in  Lynn,  the  floor  space 
occupied  was  not  more  than  27,000  sq.  ft.,  and  there 
were  only  45  employees  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of 
arc-lighting  apparatus. 

It  was  at  this  time  that  Mr.  C.  A.  Coffin  —  who  has 
for  many  years  been  at  the  head  of  the  business,  and  is 
now  President  of  the  General  Electric  Company  —  be- 
came connected  with  the  enterprise. 


Iff 


„|lll?f  ft-Ei^'  .:..na«..« 


i\0 


"immi 


The  Old  Thomson-Hodston  Factory  at  I>ynn,  tS84. 


The  First  Thomson- Houston  Factory,  Lynn,  1884 


The  development  of  the  business  took  place  very 
rapidly,  in  the  hands  of  the  energetic  Lynn  manage- 
ment, and  while  it  originally  related  almost  entirely 
to  the  Thomson-Houston  arc-lighting  system,  it  was 
soon  extended  to  include  the  various  dei)artments  of 
electrical  engineering.  In  the  arc-lighting  field  alone, 
within  eight  years  after  the  Lynn  management  began 
work,  the  number  of  arc  lights  installed  had  increased 
from  a  few  hundreds  to  80,000  or  more,  and  tliis  num- 
ber is  now  being  produced  annually. 

In  succession,  the  business  of  manufacturing  series 
incandescent  lamps   for  constant   current   circuits,   in- 


io8 


The    Boston 


candescent  lamps  for  direct  current  constant  potential 
circuits,  alternating  current  lamps,  alternating  current 
lamps  with  transformers,  electric  railway  apparatus 
and  marine,  power  and  mining  apparatus  of  all  kinds 
were  taken  up,  and  factory  after  factory  was  added  to 
the  original  plant,  and  the  increase  has  steadily  kept 
up  until  the  enormous  manufacturing  plant  of  the 
General  Electric  Company,  now  existing  at  Lynn,  has 
been  developed. 

During  this  great  industrial  development,  many  in- 
ventions were  brought  out  by  the  inventors  and  engi- 


General  Electric  Works,  Lynn,  1S93 


neers  of  the  Company,  and  the  technical  work  under- 
taken became  recognized  as  being  well  in  the  forefront 
of  electrical  engineering  development.  This  period  re- 
ferred to,  marked  the  inception  of  many  of  the  devices, 
the  use  of  which  in  later  years  has  been  extended  in  a 
very  large  way,  such,  for  example,  as  the  electric  meters, 
first  brought  out  in  1889. 

It  was  in  1892  that  the  Edison  General  Electric 
Company,  working  under  the  Edison  patents  and  sys- 
tem, was  merged  with  the  Thomson-Houston  Electric 


Electrical    Ha  n  d book  log 

Company,  to  form  what  now  is  the  General  Electric 
Company,  having  its  principal  works  and  office  at 
Schenectady,  New  York.  Before  this  consolidation  of 
interests,  which  was  of  great  importance  in  the  elec- 
trical field,  the  Thomson-Houston  Electric  Company 
had  already  acquired  the  Brush  Electric  Company  at 
Cleveland,  Ohio,  and  had  incorporated  the  Brush 
business  with  its  own.  It  will  be  remembered  that  the 
Brush  Electric  Company  was  the  first  company  to 
exploit  series  arc-lighting,  under  the  patents  of  Mr. 
Charles  F.  Brush. 

The  present  plant  at  Lynn  employs  about  6,000 
hands,  being  second  in  size  of  the  works  controlled 
and  operated  by  the  General  Electric  Company,  and 
its  productions  are  of  great  importance  in  the  business 
of  the  Company. 

Ow-ing  to  local  conditions  at  Lynn,  the  plant  is  at 
present  subdivided  into  three  groups  of  buildings. 
These  are  known  as  the  West  Lynn  Works,  the  River 
Works,  and  the  Incandescent  Lamp  Factory,  and  they 
cover  a  combined  area  of  about  80  acres,  with  a  floor 
space  of  about  1,200,000  square  feet. 

The  initial  plant,  greatly  extended  and  known  as  the 
West  Lynn  Works,  covers  about  10  acres,  with  a  floor 
space  of  something  over  half  a  million  square  feet.  It 
is  devoted  largely  to  the  manufacture  of  moderate  and 
small-sized  apparatus,  such  as  arc-lamps,  arc-dynamos, 
electric  meters,  measuring  instruments,  alternating  and 
direct  current  fan  motors,  small  and  moderate  sized 
alternating  and  direct  current  stationary  motors,  gen- 
erators of  moderate  capacity,  electric  heating  apparatus; 
and  general  supplies,  such  as  insulated  wire,  built-up 
mica,  and  other  insulating  materials.  This  factory  has 
the  distinction  of  having  the  largest  output  of  the 
above  mentioned  classes  of  apparatus  of  any  manu- 
facturing concern  in  the  world. 

The  "River  Works,"  as  it  is  called,  is  about  a  mile 
from  the  West  Lynn  jjhmt  and  is  situated  on  the  east 
bank  of  the  Saugus  River,  which  is  a  tidal  stream  and 


no  The    Boston 

furnishes  adequate  water  freight  transportation,  and  is 
auxiliary  to  exceptional  railway  facilities.  The  first 
buildings  of  this  large  plant  were  the  iron  and  steel 
foundries,  erected  in  1894.  In  the  iron  foundry  iron 
castings  are  made  for  the  general  manufacture,  and  in 
the  steel  foundry  heavy  and  light  steel  castings  are 
produced  on  a  large  scale.  It  is  worthy  of  note  that 
the  steel  foundry  at  the  River  Works  at  Lynn  was 
probably  the  first  foundry  specially  devoted  to  the 
production  of  steel  castings  solely  for  electrical  ma- 
chinery. 

Gradually  the  nucleus  formed  by  these  foundries 
became  surrounded  by  a  growth  of  buildings  devoted  to 
many  other  branches  of  the  work,  so  that  the  total 
floor  area  is  now  approximately  652,000  square  feet. 
Here  are  located  the  general  carpenter  shop  of  the 
Lynn  factories,  the  pattern  shop,  the  large  general 
machine  shop,  with  the  most  modern  equipment  of 
tools,  etc.,  and  the  insulation  department,  devoted  to 
the  various  treatments  and  preparations  which  enter 
into  the  other  manufactures  to  secure  high  insulation. 
Here  also  will  be  found  the  punch-press  department, 
where  all  the  stampings  for  the  rest  of  the  works 
are  made,  such  as  transformer  stampings,  motor  and 
generator  armature  stampings  and  the  like.  Here  also 
are  presses  for  forming  sheet  metal  into  various  shapes. 
The  manufacture  of  railway  motor  equipments  and 
transformers  is  also  carried  on  in  a  group  of  buildings 
at  the  River  Works.  A  recent  addition  to  the  plant  in 
the  form  of  a  huge  steel-frame  building,  having  a  floor 
area  of  140,000  square  feet,  is  nearing  completion. 
This  building  is  to  be  devoted  to  the  manufacture  of 
the  Curtis  Steam  Turbine  in  sizes  ranging  from  i|  to 
1,500  k.w.  capacity. 

The  manufacture  of  incandescent  lamps  in  Lynn 
was  started  by  the  Thomson-Houston  Electric  Com- 
pany about  the  year  1885,  in  one  of  the  early  additions 
to  its  original  plant.  This  was  continued  with  en- 
largements up  to  the  time  of  the  union  v.-ith  the  Edison 


Electrical    Handbook  m 


tt2  The   BostoTt 

General  Electric  Company  in  1892,  and  soon  there- 
after the  incandescent  lamp  business  of  the  General 
Electric  Company  was  concentrated  at  its  large  lamp 
works  at  Harrison,  New  Jersey.  It  is  interesting  to 
note  that  in  the  past  two  or  three  years  the  General 
Electric  Company  has  again  established  a  portion  of 
its  incandescent  lamp  business  in  Lynn,  and  there  is 
now  in  operation  a  factory,  the  capacity  of  which  is 
20,000  lamps  per  day,  and  additional  facilities  are 
being  provided  for  a  much  larger  production.  In  this 
factory,  all  the  manifold  operations  which  are  involved 
in  the  production  of  the  complete  incandescent  lamp 
are  carried  on. 

It  was  the  policy  of  the  Thomson-Houston  Electric 
Company  —  and  this  policy  has  been  continued  by  its 
successor,  the  General  Electric  Company  —  to  devote 
a  certain  portion  of  its  energies  to  the  development  of 
new  inventions  and  designs. 

To  this  end,  facilities  have  always  existed  in  the  Lynn 
Works,  as  also  in  the  Schenectady  Works,  of  the  Com- 
pany for  the  experimental  development  of  new  appa- 
ratus. In  this  way  the  Lynn  Works  has  contributed 
largely  to  the  art  in  the  new  devices  and  inventions 
from  time  to  time  developed  by  the  Company's  engi- 
neers. 

From  the  first,  the  policy  of  the  Thomson-Houston 
Electric  Company  was  that  of  recognizing  merit  in 
other  enterprises,  and  securing  control  of  the  important 
ones,  whereby  its  business  was  widely  extended  through- 
out the  country.  For  example,  Mr.  Charles  J.  Van 
Depoele  had,  as  early  as  February,  1883,  been  doing 
pioneer  work  in  the  propulsion  of  street-cars  and  ex- 
hibited an  electric  railway  in  Chicago;  at  the  exhibi- 
tion in  Toronto  in  1884  he  had  operated  a  conduit 
electric  railway;  and  in  1885  the  Toronto  road  was 
operated  by  an  overhead  conductor,  with  an  under- 
running  trolley.  In  1888  the  Thomson-Houston  Com- 
pany purchased  the  patents  of  Mr.  Van  Depoele,  and 
secured  his  services.     From  that  time  the   Company 


Electrical    Handbook  iij 

became  a  very  considerable  factor  in  the  electric  rail- 
way business,  and  the  plant  at  West  Lynn  was  largely 
devoted  to  the  supplying  of  railway  motor  equipment 
and  power  station  equipments  required  in  the  business. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  the  first  direct  connected 
d.c.  500-volt,  1,500  k.w.  generator  was  installed  at 
the  World's  Fair  in  Chicago  in  the  operation  of  the 
Intramural  Railway  within  the  exhibition  grounds. 
The  parts  of  this  large  generator  were  built  in  Lynn 
and  were  assembled  for  the  first  time  in  the  power 
house  at  the  Exposition. 

Some  idea  of  the  growth  of  the  works  at  Lynn  may 
be  obtained  from  the  statement  that  in  1892  the  floor 
space  occupied  had  increased  to  350,000  square  feet, 
and  the  number  of  employees  had  risen  to  over  4,000. 


T'he  A?}terica?i  Telephone  a?td 
Telegraph  Company 

THE   RISE   OF   THE   TELEPHONE 

BOSTON  is  preeminently  the  Telephone  City. 
It  is  the  birthplace  and  early  home  of  the 
telephone,  and  is,  and  always  has  been,  the 
headquarters  of  the  telephone  business  in 
North  America. 

Before  the  year  1876  there  was  not  a  single  speaking 
telephone  in  the  hands  of  the  public  anywhere  in  the 
whole  world.  When  that  year  opened,  though  Alexander 
Graham  Bell  had  previously  discovered  the  fundamental 
principles  of  the  telephone,  had  invented  the  art  of  elec- 
trically transmitting  spoken  words,  and  plans  for  practis- 
ing it,  and  though  he  had  even  made  telephones  exem- 
plifying such  principles,  no  patent  protecting  the  invention 
had  as  yet  been  granted  to  him  ;  no  one  except  the  in- 
ventor had  ever  made  or  used  the  instruments ;  and  such 
suggestions  of  transmitting  conversation  over  wires  by 
means  of  the  electrical  current  as  had  perchance  made 
their  appearance  were  either  disregarded  altogether,  or, 
if  considered  at  all,  were  by  press  and  people  alike 
treated  as  an  excellent  joke. 

But  now  in  the  year  of  grace,  1904,  everyone  knows,  in 
a  general  way,  what  the  telephone  is  ;  what  the  telephone 
exchange  is  ;  and  that  this  wonderful  means  of  electrically 
transmitting  thought  and  communicating  intelligence 
from  one  place  to  another  is  universally  employed  and 
made  available  in  almost  every  city  and  considerable 
town  of  every  civilized  country. 

The  invention  of  the  telephone  was  the  result  of  the 
fortuitous  combination  of  the  right  man,  an  appropriate 
environment,  and  a  special  training ;  and  admirably 
exemplifies  the  truth  that  while  for  the  accomplishment  of 
such  special  work,  energy,  aptitude,  and  perseverance  are 
114 


Electrical    Handbook  li£ 

essential  qualifications,  their  value  is  immeasurably  in- 
creased and  the  chances  of  success  infinitely  enhanced,  if 
to  them  are  superadded  the  special  equipment  of  special 
training  and  education ;  the  conviction  that  the  object 
sought  is  attainable;  and  the  determination  to  attain  it. 

Perhaps  no  man  ever  was  so  well  equipped  as  Graham 
Bell  for  making  an  invention.  Certainly  no  man  could 
be  better  equipped  for  the  making  of  this  particular  in- 
vention. His  father,  Alexander  Melville  Bell,  was  a 
professor  of  vocal  physiology,  and  he  himself  had  been 
trained  and  educated  from  boyhood  to  the  same  profes- 
sion. He  had  been  familiar  with  the  operation,  the 
constitution  and  nature  of  speech  for  many  years,  and  as 
a  boy  had  made  a  mechanical  talking  machine. 

Born  and  brought  up  in  Scotland,  young  Bell  —  then 
twenty-three  years  old  —  moved  with  his  parents  to  Can- 
ada in  1870,  and  ultimately  in  1872  to  Boston,  where  he 
lectured  upon  vocal  physiology  at  Boston  University, 
besides  giving  lessons  to  private  pupils.  Much  of  his 
work  consisted  in  teaching  deaf-mutes  to  talk  ;  that  is,  to 
carry  on  conversation  orally,  although  they  themselves 
could  not  hear  it,  a  thing  which  seems  much  more  diffi- 
cult now  than  the  electrical  transmission  of  speech  ;  and 
we  need  not  wonder  that  he  grew  to  mentally  see  the 
movement  of  the  air  particles  which  constitutes  sonorous 
vibration.  Nor,  considering  the  manner  of  man  he  was, 
is  it  to  be  wondered  at,  that  since  the  time  for  the  appear- 
ance of  the  speaking  telephone  was  now  at  hand,  he 
should  be  the  discoverer  of  the  important  and  essential 
fact  that  the  current  flowing  in  the  line  between  a  trans- 
mitting and  receiving  plate  or  membrane  must  be  an 
electrical  copy  of  the  vibrations  of  the  original  sounds,  — 
must,  to  use  his  own  words,  be  "similar  in  form  to  the 
vibrations  of  the  air  accompanying "  such  original 
sound.s,  — in  order  that  the  motion  of  one  of  the  plates 
should  control  that  of  the  other,  and  that  the  motion  of 
the  controlled  plate  should  in  every  respect  be  a  copy 
of  that  of  the  controlling  one. 

A  clear  conception  of  the  nature  of  the  prolilcm,  and 
a  plan  for  its  solution,  certainly  presented  themselves  to 


116  The    Boston 

the  mind  of  Mr.  Bell  during  tlie  year  1S74,  and  in  October 
of  that  year  he  imparted  his  ideas  to  a  friend ;  but  here 
for  the  moment  he  was  stopped  by  the  apprehension  that 
any  working  currents  generated  on  the  plan  he  had  in 
mind  (which  in  substance  involved  the  magneto-electric 
apparatus  he  subsecjuently  developed)  would  probably  be 
too  feeble  to  produce  practically  useful  results. 

Now  the  telephone  was  not  the  only  matter  in  addition 
to  his  regular  duties  that  our  inventor  had  on  hand  at 
this  time.  He  was  also  engaged  with  inventions  in  har- 
monic multiple,  and  autographic  telegraphy,  and  being 
too  poor  to  prosecute  his  researches  independently,  had 
entered  into  an  arrangement  with  certain  gentlemen  (one 
of  whom,  Mr.  Gardiner  G.  Hubbard,  subsequently  be- 
came his  father-in-law),  under  which  they  should  pay  the 
expenses  of  experimenting  with  these  telegraphic  inven- 
tions and  of  obtaining  United  States  patents  for  them, 
while  he  should  give  up  a  portion  of  his  professional 
work  and  give  the  time  thus  saved  to  telegraphic  experi- 
mentation. These  gentlemen,  who  thought  something 
could  be  made  out  of  the  telegraphic  inventions,  but  had 
no  faith  in  the  speaking  telephone,  and  regarded  it  as 
being  wholly  chimerical  and  fantastical,  naturally  wished 
to  push  the  multiple  telegraph  invention  forward,  and 
discouraged  work  on  the  latter. 

Mr.  Hubbard,  telling  the  story  of  the  relations  between 
him.self  and  Mr.  Bell  at  that  time,  remarks  with  some 
naivetd  that  he  had  "  no  belief  in  Mr.  Bell's  ability  to 
transmit  vocal  speech,"  and  that  he  thought  he  was 
wasting  his  time  in  allowing  his  mind  to  dwell  upon  that 
subject,  which  certainly  could  never  be  made  commer- 
cially valuable  ;  and  ought  to  spend  more  of  his  time 
upon  "instruments  that  would  transmit  many  musical 
notes  simultaneously,  or  upon  an  autograph  telegraph  at 
which  he  was  working;  as  such  instruments  would  be  of 
more  value  than  any  instrument  for  transmitting  speech." 

It  need  not  therefore  be  a  matter  of  surprise  that  Mr. 
Bell  halted  before  the  apparent  difiRculty  of  the  exces- 
sive feebleness  of  the  magneto  electric  current  for  some 
time,  since  he  was  not  an  electrician  of  skill  and  experi- 


Electrical     Handbook  II J 

ence,  but  rather,  as  Maxwell  has  well  said,  "a  speaker, 
who,  to  gain  his  private  ends,  has  become  an  electrician  ;  " 
since  he  had  many  other  matters  to  attend  to,  including 
that  of  earning  his  living;  and  since  he  had  financial 
backers  urging  him  in  the  direction  of  multiple  teleg- 
raphy, and  deriding  the  thought  of  protitably  trans- 
mitting speech. 

But  while  temporarily  blocked,  Mr.  Bell  did  not  waver 
in  his  convictions,  and  continued  to  think  and  watch. 
On  June  2,  1875,  the  casual  observation  of  the  unexpect- 
edly vigorous  way  in  which  a  reed  vibrated  in  corre- 
spondence with  the  enforced  vibrations  of  a  similarly 
tuned  reed  at  another  part  of  a  circuit,  and  under  acci- 
dental conditions,  at  once  carried  conviction  to  the 
trained  mind  that  the  apprehended  difficulty  was  imagin- 
ary, and  was  speedily  followed  by  the  construction  of  the 
first  pair  of  magneto  telephones.  These  each  consisted 
of  an  electromagnet  having  a  U-shaped  iron  core,  a  coil 
round  one  limb  of  the  core,  a  thin  iron  armature  hinged 
to  the  other  limb  and  stretching  across  the  pole-sur- 
rounded core,  and  a  membrane  diaphragm  stretched 
across  a  tube  serving  as  a  moutlipiece  and  mounted  in  a 
frame  with  its  centre  immediately  opposite  the  active 
pole  of  the  magnet,  and  with  the  armature  meclianically 
attached  to  its  centre. 

These  were  the  first  telephones.  Tlieir  immedi.ite 
success  was  not  very  great,  the  reason,  as  we  now  know, 
being  threefold:  no  one  knew  what  the  reproduced 
sounds  of  the  telephone  would  be  like,  and  the  still  small 
voice  it  really  did  possess  being  unexpected,  remained 
for  the  time  unrecognized  :  the  place  where  they  were 
tried,  a  workshop,  was  in  any  event  too  noisy  for  inex- 
perienced persons  (and  every  one  was  inexperienced 
then)  to  hear  the  sound  of  the  voice  reproduced  by  a 
telephone  receiver;  and  the  art  of  constructing  tele- 
phones being  just  born,  the  instruments  were  mechani- 
cally l)ad. 

Bell,  however,  was  now  sure  of  liis  ground  ;  the  results 
he  ol)tained  were  sufficient  to  keep  him  steadilv  at  it 
from  this  time  on  ;  and   the  instruments  of  the  summer 


Il8  The    Boston 

of  1875,  tried  at  a  later  period  in  a  quieter  place,  and 
after  the  experimenters  had  obtained  some  experience 
and  knew  what  to  expect,  turned  out  to  be  really  good, 
practical  telephones. 

During  the  remainder  of  1875,  the  inventor  applied 
himself  in  the  first  place,  to  making  trial  of  every  imagin- 
able variation  in  the  proportioning  and  arrangement  of 
the  coil,  magnet,  and  armature,  of  instruments  of  this 
sort;  and  secondly,  to  the  work,  undertaken  and  carried 
out  solely  by  himself,  of  preparing  appropriate  descrip- 
tions of  the  telephone  invention  for  the  application  for 
his  original  United  States  Patent. 

The  application  for  the  patent  was  filed  in  the  Patent 
Office  on  February  14,  1876,  and  the  patent  when  granted 
on  March  7  of  the  same  year  bore  the  number  of 
174,465.  After  an  eventful  life  of  seventeen  years,  during 
which  time  it  bore  with  invariable  success  the  brunt  of  a 
litigation  unexampled  in  the  annals  of  patent  law,  it  ex- 
pired on  March  7,  1893.  The  form  of  telephone  described 
and  illustrated  in  the  patent  specification  had  not  ad- 
vanced very  far  beyond  that  of  the  instruments  of  June, 
1875,  but  there  had  been  added  hollow  cones  attached  to 
the  armature  membranes  to  direct  the  impact  of  the  voice 
upon  the  membrane  in  one  instrument,  and  towards  the 
ear  of  a  listener  in  the  other. 

The  first  account  of  the  speaking  telephone  and  its 
powers  presented  to  the  public  was  given  in  Boston  on  M  ay 
10,  1S76,  in  a  paper  read  by  Bell  before  the  American 
Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences;  and  from  this  we  learn 
that  the  fashion  of  using  a  relatively  heavy  armature,  and 
of  hinging  it  to  one  pole  of  the  magnet,  had  already  gone 
by;  and  that  its  place  was  taken  by  a  small  patch  of 
clock-spring  steel  glued  to  the  membrane  centre,  close  to 
but  without  touching  the  magnet  pole  carrying  the  coil. 
Articulate  speech  clearly  understandable,  and  sometimes 
surprisingly  distinct,  was  obtained  on  a  circuit  contain- 
ing a  battery  of.  say,  about  ten  volts  E.  M.  F.  and  extend- 
ing between  two  rooms  at  a  distance  from  one  another 
in  the  same  building,  by  means  of  two  magnet  instru- 
ments of  this  kind.     A   variable   resistance   transmitter 


Electrical    H andbook  iig 

sometimes  having  a  wire  attached  to  the  membrane  and 
dipping  into  acidulated  water,  and  sometimes  a  small 
carbon  cylinder  similarly  carried  on  the  membrane  and 
dipping  into  mercury,  was  also  spoken  of,  as  having  been 
devised  and  experimented  with  ;  and  the  accounts  given 
of  it  show  that  while  the  inventor  clearly  had  at  that  time 
a  preference  for  the  magneto  transmitter  operating  by 
the  development  of  currents  of  variable  electromotive 
force,  probably  for  its  extreme  simplicity  and  for  the 
stability  of  its  moving  parts,  he  had  in  mind  variable 
resistance  transmitters  also. 

It  was  at  tliis  stage  of  its  development  that  the  tele- 
phone was  exhil)ited  at  the  Centennial  Exposition  held 
at  Philadelpiiia  in  the  summer  of  1876  to  commemorate 
the  completion  of  the  first  hundred  years  of  the  national 
existence  of  the  United  States. 

Its  exhibition  there  was  the  beginning  of  its  public 
career.  There,  its  capabilities  and  the  remarkable  re- 
sults of  its  operation  attracted  the  admiring  attention  of 
many  distinguished  votaries  of  science;  and  it  was  the 
recipient  of  much  appreciative  acclaim  and  laudatory  re- 
mark from  Professor  Joseph  Henry  and  Sir  William 
Thomson  (now  Lord  Kelvin)  of  the  board  of  judges  of 
the  scientific  section. 

It  cannot  be  doubted  that  this  early  acknowledgment 
by  the  highest  scientific  authority,  of  the  surpassing 
magnitude  and  importance  of  the  discovery  as  a  scientific 
achievement,  and  the  far-reaching  possibilities  of  the 
invention,  made  it  at  once  celebrated,  and  brought  it 
prominently  before  the  public  eye,  creating  for  it  a 
general  and  widespread  interest,  which  apart  from  this 
noteworthy  occasion  would  have  been  less  expeditiously 
secured ;  and  which  materially  facilitated  the  task  of 
practically  introducing  it  into  active  employment  as  a 
useful,  efficient,  and  simple  means  of  reciprocal  commu- 
nication over  the  electric  wire. 

With  one  exception  the  telephone  instruments  exhib- 
ited at  Philadelphia  were  of  the  same  simple  construction 
as  had  been  described  by  the  inventor  to  the  American 
Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences,  consisting  of  a  stretched 


I20  The    Boston 

membrane  having  a  little  piece  of  iron  attached  to  its 
centre,  and  thus  held  closely  confronting  the  pole  of  an 
electromagnet;  these  instruments  being  used  indifferently 
to  transmit  and  receive.  The  exception  was  a  pa^'ticular 
form  which  at  the  Exhibition  was  operated  as  a  receiver 
only,  and  which  therefore  has  received  the  designation 
of  the  "  Centennial  Receiver."  This  instrument,  dispens- 
ing altogether  with  the  stretched  membrane,  was  formed 
of  a  tubular  electromagnet  whose  coil  surrounded  an 
iron  core  and  was  enclosed  in  an  iron  tube.  A  thin, 
circular  piece  of  sheet  iron  served  as  armature  and 
vibrating  plate,  and  rested  by  its  edge  upon  the  rim 
of  the  tube,  its  middle  part  not  quite  touching  the  end 
of  the  central  iron  core.  This  instrument  is  of  his- 
toric interest,  as  being  the  first  speaking  telephone  with 
a  metallic  diaphragm ;  and  was  the  direct  forerunner  of 
the  iron  diaphragm  commercial  telephone  instrument 
which  is  still  universally  employed  as  the  receiver. 

Stimulated  by  his  Centennial  success,  the  inventor  of 
the  telephone  devoted  himself  during  the  latter  half  of 
1876  to  its  improvement  with  redoubled  ardor,  and  made 
many  structural  advances,  which  for  the  most  part  he 
sought  to  describe  and  protect  in  a  second  patent  granted 
to  him  on  January  30,  1877. 

In  the  Exhibition  displays  and  in  all  telephone  work 
up  to  the  summer  of  1876  we  find  Bell  employing  electro- 
magnets for  his  telephones,  and  using  a  voltaic  battery 
connected  in  the  line  circuit  to  establish  a  constant  line 
current.  Now,  however,  he  begins  to  cast  about  in  the 
direction  of  simplification,  and  he  shrewdly  suspects  that 
the  only  material  function  of  the  battery  is  to  excite  his 
electromagnets. 

He  writes  to  a  friend  on  July  2,  1876:  "I  am  sure 
by  substituting  a  permanent  magnet  for  the  pole  of  the 
electromagnet  I  could  work  it  without  a  battery  at  all." 
This,  indeed,  had  been  the  original  idea  of  Mr.  Bell  in 
1874,  but  with  the  instruments  thus  far  made,  the  effects 
obtained  had  been  more  powerful  with  a  battery  in  the 
line;  or  so  he  had  fancied.  A  permanent  magnet  instru- 
ment was  now,  however,  made  and  tried,  and,  as  had  been 


Electrical    Handbook  I2i 

anticipated,  it  was  found  that  the  essential  thing  was  the 
presence  of  the  magnet  howsoever  produced.  Accord- 
ingly, after  confirmation  of  these  results  by  many  experi- 
ments the  battery  was  towards  the  end  of  the  year  finally 
eliminated, and  the  permanent  magnet  generally  employed. 

The  diaphragm  also  received  consideration,  and  many 
hundreds  of  experiments  were  made,  with  the  object  of 
determining  once  for  all  the  best  size,  thickness,  and 
shape.  Now  that  the  telephone  had  actually  been  made 
to  talk,  it  was  found  difiicult  to  make  it  so  that  it  would 
not;  and  the  size  and  thickness  were  varied  between  wide 
limits  without  seriously  affecting  its  talking  powers. 
Generally,  it  was  ascertained  that  keeping  the  thickness 
the  same,  the  articulation  remained  good  with  diaphragms 
of  all  sizes,  say  from  a  diameter  of  six  inches  down ;  but 
that  the  tone  with  the  largest  sizes  became  resonant  or 
cavernous,  and  with  the  smaller  sizes  nasal,  or  Punch-and- 
Judy-like.  But  it  was  also  ascertained  by  repeated  trials 
with  the  membrane  diaphragm  having  the  patch  of  iron 
glued  to  its  centre,  that  the  bigger  the  patch  of  iron  was 
made,  the  better  the  telephone  worked,  and  the  more  dis- 
tinct grew  its  articulation.  The  iron  patch  ultimately 
grew  so  large  that  it  became  obvious  that  the  membrane 
was  superfluous  ;  it  was  therefore  discarded  entirely,  the 
simple  sheet-iron  diaphragm  henceforth  taking  its  place 
in  all  mstruments  made. 

The  coil,  as  a  result  of  many  trials,  was  shortened  until 
it  became  the  thin  bobbin  now  a  characteristic  feature 
of  receivers ;  and  it  soon  became  clear,  that  quickness 
rather  than  strength  of  action  was  required  ;  and  that  it 
was  a  distinct  advantage  to  have  the  coil  just  long  enough 
both  as  a  winding  and  as  a  spool  to  act  effectively  upon 
the  extreme  end  of  the  magnet  nearest  the  diaphragm, 
and  an  equally  distinct  disadvantage  to  have  it  any 
longer. 

The  resonating  space  within  the  speaking  or  hearing 
tube  and  in  front  of  the  diaphragm  was  made  thin  and 
flat,  and  thus  brought  into  line  with  well-established 
acoustical  principles.  It  was  demonstrated  that  the  size 
of  a  telephone  instrument  could    be   extensively  varied 


122  The    B  0  St  0  n 

without  interfering  with  its  operativeness  or  efficiency  ; 
and  this  permitted  the  employment  of  a  small  bar  or  U 
magnet  enclosed  in  a  handle  in  portable  form,  such  as  is 
used  to  this  day.  Still  later,  a  soft  iron  polepiece  screwed 
to  the  end  of  the  hard  steel  permanent  magnet  within  the 
coil  was  adopted. 

A  great  advance  in  effectiveness  over  the  "  Centen- 
nial" instruments  followed  and  resulted  from  these  alter- 
ations. The  talk  reproduced  by  the  receiver  was  much 
louder  and  clearer ;  the  telephone,  no  longer  a  mere 
scientitic  triumph  and  toy,  had  become  a  practical  success, 
and  was  ready  for  introduction  to  commercial  life  ;  its 
inventive  work  was  completed  ;  and  it  remained  only  to 
devise  forms  most  suitable  for  practice,  and  most  con- 
venient for  the  public. 

Before  the  autumn  of  1876,  while  much  talk  had  been 
transmitted  by  telephone  over  electric  circuits,  every  com- 
munication had  been  sent  and  received  between  places 
in  the  same  building  and  under  one  roof ;  and  no  message 
had  been  transmitted  over  a  real  line  connecting  two 
stations  at  a  distance  from  one  another.  As  early  as 
August  of  that  year  Mr.  Bell,  while  paying  his  annual 
visit  to  Canada,  experimented  upon  a  five-mile  telegraph 
line  between  Brantford  and  Mount  Pleasant,  Ontario,  and 
probably  transmitted  some  short  sentences  and  several 
songs;  but  no  very  tangible  account  of  the  affair  is  re- 
corded. 

He  is  soon,  however,  again  in  Boston,  and  that  the 
telephone  —  notwithstanding  the  minuteness  of  its  current 
—  would  work  well  on  a  real  line  supported  on  poles  in 
the  open  air,  was  demonstrated  beyond  peradventure  on 
the  evening  of  October  9,  when  the  first  long  conversa- 
tion ever  carried  on  by  word  of  mouth  over  a  telegraph 
line,  was  transmitted  upon  a  line  owned  by  the  Walworth 
Manufacturing  Company,  extending  from  their  office  in 
Boston  to  their  factory  in  Cambridge  ;  Mr.  Bell  being  at 
the  Boston  end,  and  his  assistant  in  Cambridge.  Every 
word  of  this  conversation  was  recorded  at  both  end 
stations;  and  from  that  time  there  was  no  longer  room  to 
doubt  that  the  telephone  could  be  made  practically  useful. 


Electrical    Handbook  12J 

The  telephone  even  in  these  archaic  times  was  not  re- 
stricted to  short  lines  ;  and  on  November  26,  1876,  it  was 
experimentally  employed  as  a  medium  of  communication 
between  Boston  and  Salem,  Alassachusetts,  by  way  of 
North  Conway,  New  Hampshire,  about  two  hundred 
miles  of  actual  line  wire ;  and  at  a  later  period  Mr.  Bell 
and  his  associate  exchanged  conversation  over  a  Western 
Union  Telegraph  Company's  wire  between  Boston  and 
New  York ;  both  of  which  performances  would  even  in 
these  later  days  be  accounted  good  work  for  a  magneto 
transmitter. 

Early  in  1S77  the  inventor  and  his  friends  made  active 
efforts  to  give  publicity  to  the  invention,  and  to  attract 
attention  to  its  promise.  Mr.  Bell  gave  lectures  in  many 
places,  including  Boston  and  New  York,  publicly  exhib- 
iting the  telephone  and  exemplifying  its  operation  at  each 
one.  This  was  done  to  prove  to  the  public  the  operative- 
ness  and  practicality  of  the  apparatus,  and  incidentally  to 
raise  money  for  its  commercial  introduction.  Mr.  Wat- 
son, the  associate  of  Mr.  Bell  from  the  beginning,  remarks 
upon  "  the  great  doubt  that  existed  in  everybody's  mind, 
when  first  spoken  to  about  the  telephone,  as  to  whetlier 
it  was  possible  to  do  such  a  wonderful  thing  as  to  tran.s- 
mit  articulate  speech  over  a  telegraph  wire." 

Every  possible  effort  was  at  this  time  made  to  excite 
a  general  interest  in,  and  familiarize  the  pu])lic  with,  the 
new  invention. 

Mr.  Gardiner  G.  Hubbard,  in  wliom,  as  trustee,  the 
telephone  patents  had  been  vested,  had  many  instru- 
ments made  and  distributed  as  loans  to  telegraph  and 
other  companies  and  individuals,  to  attract  enlightened 
public  attention,  and  to  influence  capital  for  the  commer- 
cial introduction  of  the  telephone. 

Agents  were  appointed  and  given  power  to  lease  tele- 
phones, receiving  a  commission  on  each  ;  and  before 
April  I,  1S77,  an  arrangement  was  made  for  their  manu- 
facture.    H  was.  however,  uphill  work  at  this  time. 

Still,  progress  was  made  :  and  in  the  early  spring  a 
line  was  erected  in  15oston  (the  first  telephone  line  ever 
built)  for  the   express  purpose   of   estal)lisliing   regular 


12^  The    Boston 

telephonic  communication  between  the  factory  of  Mr. 
Charles  Williams,  Jr.,  the  manufacturer  who  had  been 
engaged,  and  his  residence  at  Somerville.  This  line  was 
finished  and  put  in  operation  on  April  4,  1877,  and  was 
mentioned  by  several  of  the  Boston  newspapers  on  the 
following  day.  Numbers  of  people  came  to  see  and  try 
it,  and  orders  began  to  come  in  for  telephones  and  tele- 
phone lines. 

Before  the  end  of  April  other  telephone  lines  were 
constructed,  connecting  Professor  Bell's  own  laboratory. 
No.  5  Exeter  Place,  Boston,  with  the  factory  of  Mr. 
Williams,  and  other  points  in  Boston,  and  the  office  of 
Stone  &  Downer  (now  Downer  &  Co.),  28  State  Street, 
Boston,  with  the  house  of  one  member  of  the  firm  in 
Somerville. 

In  the  early  part  of  May,  1877,  an  agreement  was 
made  with  the  Board  of  Waterworks  of  the  neighboring 
city,  Cambridge,  Mass.,  for  the  equipment  with  tele- 
phones of  a  line  connecting  the  principal  office  of  the 
department  in  the  business  part  of  the  city  with  the  works 
at  Fresh  Pond,  a  couple  of  miles  distant. 

The  idea  of  using  the  telephone  as  a  time-saving  ap- 
pliance, and  as  a  means  of  communicating  intelligence, 
began  to  spread  ;  and  telephone  lines  put  up  for  business 
purposes  in  the  city  of  New  York  and  in  Altoona,  Penn., 
closely  followed  the  Cambridge  installation. 

During  the  months  of  April  and  May,  1877,  applica- 
tions for  agencies  began  to  come  in  with  increasing  fre- 
quency, and  the  business  management  was  constantly 
engaged  in  disposing  of  exclusive  privileges  and  territo- 
rial licenses  under  the  patents,  and  in  meeting  the  rapidly 
enlarging  demands  for  telephones. 

This  was  an  excellent  beginning,  since  even  for  pri- 
vate line  work  it  at  once  became  manifest  that  the 
telephone  —  an  instrument  which  any  person  howsoever 
unskilled  might  after  a  few  trials  use  effectually  —  was  a 
wonderful  convenience,  and  a  great  improvement  over 
anything  which  had  gone  before  ;  but  it  was  soon  per- 
ceived that  the  potentialities  of  the  instrument  could 
never  be  fully  realized,  were  its  employment  permanently 


Electrical    Handbook  12^ 

restricted  to  communication  in  each  case  between  the 
same  two  or  the  same  half-dozen  stations  ;  and  that  its 
scope  of  action  would  be  inimitably  enhanced  by  making 
it  the  medium  of  unrestricted  intercommunication  be- 
tween any  number  of  stations. 

This  consideration  led  to  the  telephone  exchange. 

The  fundamental  idea  of  every  telephone  exchange, 
great  or  small,  is  that  the  lines  composing  it,  each  leading 
from  telephone  apparatus  at  an  outlying  station,  —  the 
residence  or  place  of  business  of  a  user,  —  shall  converge 
to -a  central  station,  where  by  uniting  the  ends  of  any  two 
lines,  telephonic  communication  between  their  respective 
out-stations  shall  be  established.  Whether  there  are  but 
two,  two  hundred,  or  two  tliousand  customers'  wires  thus 
entering  the  central  office,  the  principle  is  the  same  ;  each, 
by  means  of  the  central  station  switchboard  or  commuta- 
tor, can  be  connected  with  the  other.  Or,  'ringing  the 
changes  upon  them,  the  end  of  any  one  may  be  switched 
to  the  end  of  any  of  the  others  whenever  required.  And 
since  by  increasing  the  number  of  subscribers'  lines  to 
one  thousand,  ten  thousand,  or,  in  fact,  any  number,  the 
number  of  possible  connections  is  likewise  increased,  we 
may  regard  the  value  of  the  exchange  to  its  patrons  as 
being  broadly  proportionate  to  the  number  of  its  sta- 
tions ;  precisely  as  the  value  as  an  advertising  medium 
of  the  great  city  newspaper,  with  its  circulation  of  half 
a  million,  far  exceeds  that  of  its  village  contemporary 
which  prints  and  circulates  but  a  couple  of  hundred  cop- 
ies weekly. 

While  it  is  the  telephone  that  has  made  the  telephone 
exchange  possible,  it  is  the  exchange  that  has  made  the 
telephone  indispensable. 

Telephone  transmission  is  known  to  the  world  mainly 
through  the  medium  of  the  telephone  exchange  ;  and  so 
immeasurably  does  the  exchange  system  overshadow  all 
other  uses,  that  in  the  public  estimation  the  telephone 
and  telephone  service  are  one  and  the  same  thing. 

The  idea  of  the  "exchange"  commended  itself  to 
Mr.  Bell  and  his  associates  at  a  very  early  day  in  tlie  his- 
tory of  the  telephone  as  a  means  for  tiie  profitable  utiliza- 


126  The    B  osi  0  n 

tion  of  the  invention,  and  was  referred  to  by  Mr.  Bell  in 
his  lectures  of  the  spring  of  1877.  The  writer  of  these 
lines  was  present  at  the  New  York  lectures  on  the  even- 
ings of  May  17,  18,  and  19,  1877,  and  heard  the  lecturer 
outline  and  eloquently  advocate  the  proposed  use  of  the 
telephone  in  the  telephone  exchange,  yet  to  be  developed. 

Boston  was  the  scene  of  the  earliest  instance  of  the 
interconnection  on  the  exchange  plan  of  lines  having 
out-stations  equipped  with  telephones  for  direct  commu- 
nication between  the  stations  of  any  two  lines ;  and  this 
occurred  in  May,  1877.  At  this  time  the  business  of  pro- 
viding electrical  protection  against  burglary  was  carried 
on  by  the  Holmes  Burglar  Alarm  Company,  and  to  this 
company  a  number  of  telephones  had  been  furnished  for 
trial  and  experiment.  From  the  central  station  at  342 
Washington  Street,  Boston,  burglar  alarm  circuit  lines 
radiated  to  a  number  of  banks  and  stores,  each  line  being 
provided  with  apparatus  at  the  central  point  by  means 
of  which  the  burglarious  entering  of  its  station  might  be 
announced  ;  and  arrangements  were  made  for  the  use  of 
these  lines,  their  sub-stations,  and  the  central  station 
as  an  experimental  telephone  exchange.  The  lines  of 
Brewster,  Bassett  &  Co.,  bankers  (now  Estabrook  &  Co.), 
the  Shoe  and  Leather  Bank,  the  National  Exchange 
Bank,  and  the  Hide  and  Leather  Bank,  together  with  a 
new  line  from  the  ofifice  of  Mr.  Williams,  the  manufac- 
turer, were  fitted  out  with  telephones  and  connected  at 
the  Holmes  central  station  with  a  small  switchboard 
made  for  the  purpose.  These  lines  were  repeatedly  in- 
terconnected, and  many  conversations  were  interchanged 
between  their  stations,  the  burglar  alarm  apparatus  being 
employed  to  transmit  the  regular  call  signals.  This  was 
in  fact  the  first  telephone  exchange. 

The  telephones  used  by  Professor  Bell  in  his  lectures 
were  large  instruments,  in  the  shape  and  about  the  size 
of  the  camera  of  a  professional  photographer,  and  com- 
prised a  large  horseshoe  permanent  magnet,  with  short 
coils  of  wire  on  its  poles  strongly  mounted  by  wooden 
supports  on  a  baseboard,  and  an  iron  diaphragm  about 
four  inches  in  diameter  fastened  close  to  the  poles  on  a 


Electrical    Handbook  I2y 

perforated  wooden  block,  behind  a  mouthpiece  about 
three  inches  long,  the  whole  being  covered  with  a  wooden 
box.  The  telephones  which  were  made  for  public  use 
were,  however,  more  portable,  and  while  their  working 
parts  remained  heavy  their  cases  were  made  flatter  and 
smaller.  No  battery  transmitters  of  the  variable  resist- 
ance or  microphone  type  were  obtainable  during  the  sum- 
mer of  1877,  or  for  some  months  thereafter ;  and  the 
Bell  a.ssociates  indeed  did  not  advocate  or  furnish  any 
battery  transmitter  until  the  latter  part  of  1878.  The  in- 
convenience of  having  but  a  single  telephone  instrument, 
and  of  changing  it  from  the  mouth  to  the  ear,  or  re- 
versely, according  as  the  u.ser  was  required  to  talk  or 
listen,  soon  became  apparent,  and  two  magnet  telephones, 
one  for  speaking  and  the  other  for  hearing,  were  then 
supplied,  the  former  being  a  modified  heavy  telephone 
retaining  the  large  magnet  and  diaphragm  in  a  large  but 
thin  and  flat  case,  which  might  be  fixed  at  the  proper 
height  upon  a  wall ;  and  the  latter  in  a  portable  form  with 
flexible  conductor  attachments,  and  of  a  size  to  be  car- 
ried in  the  hand,  and  placed  to  the  ear  for  listening  pur- 
poses only.  These  were  termed  "Box"  and  "Hand" 
telephones,  respectively,  and  the  latter  term  still  sur- 
vives. 

The  first  hand  telephone  had  a  turned  wooden  casing 
and  handle,  a  cylindrical  bar  permanent  magnet  about 
four  inches  long,  a  spool  for  its  coil  about  a  quarter  of  an 
inch  long  and  one  and  one-eighth  inches  across,  and  a 
diaphragm  of  ferrotype  iron  one  and  three-quarters  inches 
in  diameter,  and  was  made  in  May,  1877.  This  shajie 
was  .slightly  modified  in  June,  the  handle  being  made 
plainer  in  shape,  and  with  a  deeper  flare  at  the  mouth- 
piece;  and  by  December,  1877,  wood  as  a  material  for 
the  handles  was  given  up,  hard  rubber  from  tliat  time  to 
the  present  taking  its  place.  It  may  in  this  connection 
be  added  that  about  the  middle  of  August,  1S77,  the  sin- 
gle bar  magnet  thus  far  used  in  hand  telephones  was  dis- 
continued, and  a  compound  magnet  formed  of  several  thin 
lamina-  of  magnetized  steel  with  a  .soft  iron  polepiece  was 
substituted. 


128  The    Boston 

Thus  made,  the  hand  telephone  has  remained  without 
further  change  until  a  relatively  recent  period,  when,  in 
place  of  the  compound  bar  magnet,  a  long  U  magnet  with 
its  poles  brought  near  to  one  another  close  to  the  dia- 
phragm centre  has  been  adopted. 

During  the  month  of  May,  1877,  Mr.  Bell  and  his 
associates  published  their  first  manifesto  —  a  sort  of 
circular  advertisement  —  announcing  that  they  were  pre- 
pared to  furnish  telephones  and  erect  lines  all  over  the 
country,  and  stating  the  price  and  terms.  It  is  noteworthy 
that  this  circular  asserted  the  practicality  of  the  instru- 
ment for  distances  up  to  twenty  miles;  that  it  acknowl- 
edges that  at  first  the  reproduced  voice  seems  indistinct; 
and  that  it  points  out  that  slight  practice  only  is  required 
for  the  acquisition  of  familiarity  in  the  use  of  the  instru- 
ment. 

From  this  time  forward  the  work  of  furnishing  tele- 
phones and  of  sending  them  out  for  commercial  purposes 
advanced  by  leaps  and  bounds.  By  June  30,  1877,  230 
telephones  were  in  regular  use.  This  number  within  one 
month  had  increased  to  upwards  of  750;  at  the  end  of 
August  to  1,300;  and  by  the  spring  of  1880,  when  the 
American  Bell  Telephone  Company  took  over  the  busi- 
ness, we  find  in  operation,  some  61,000  transmitting  and 
receiving  telephones.  Here  it  may  be  remarked,  that 
since  magneto  telephones  only  were  employed  for  several 
months  subsequent  to  the  establishment  of  a  regular  tele- 
phone business,  it  became  customary  to  count  each  in- 
strument as  a  telephone  even  though  there  might  be  two 
in  a  single  installation,  one  used  exclusively  as  a  trans- 
mitter and  the  other  as  a  receiver.  This  practice  neces- 
sarily continued  after  the  general  introduction  of  the 
variable  resistance  transmitter,  since  each  instrument 
contained  the  invention;  and  it  thus  comes  about,  that 
even  at  the  present  day,  each  instrument,  whether  a 
transmitter  or  a  receiver,  is  reckoned  as  a  telephone  ;  and 
that  the  transmitter  and  the  receiver  of  each  station  are 
counted  as  two  telephones. 

By  the  late  summer  of  1877  it  had  become  clear  that 
some  sort  of  an  organization  was  necessary  to  take  charge 


Electrical    Handbook  I2g 

and  properly  supervise  the  commercial  development  of 
the  telephone,  which  was  assuming  dimensions  of  very 
considerable  magnitude.  As  a  temporary  expedient,  the 
owners  of  Mr.  Bell's  telephone  patents,  who  at  this  time 
were  very  few,  including  merely  Mr.  Bell,  Mr.  Hubbard, 
certain  members  of  their  respective  families,  Mr.  Thomas 
Sanders,  the  gentleman  who  with  Mr.  Hubbard  had  in- 
terested himself  in  the  Bell  inventions,  and  Mr.  Thomas 
A.  Watson,  Mr.  Bell's  assistant,  formed  themselves  in 
August  of  that  year  into  a  sort  of  informal  unincorporated 
association  having  no  capital ;  to  which  was  given  the 
name  of  the  Bell  Telephone  Association.  It  was  formed 
to  assist  and  act  in  support  of  Mr.  Gardiner  G.  Hubbard, 
to  whom  as  trustee  the  Bell  telephone  patents  had  been 
assigned,  in  the  management  of  the  business  relations  of 
the  telephone;  and  in  devising  the  best  means  for  its 
general  commercial  introduction. 

The  commercial  establishment  of  telephone  exchanges 
involved  much  preparatory  work ;  and  it  devolved  upon 
the  Association  thus  formed,  to  devise  ways  and  means 
for  establishing. and  carrying  it  on  ;  to  supervise  as  best 
it  might,  the  inventing,  contriving,  and  arranging  of  suit- 
able call  bells  and  other  signaling  apparatus,  the  develop- 
ment of  early  switchboards  and  switches  ;  and  to  arrange 
systems  of  exchange  circuits  and  apparatus  generally, 
and  even  systems  of  bookkeeping;  for  it  had  already 
been  decided  to  work  mainly  through  licensed  operating 
individuals  or  corporations,  to  whom  telephones  should 
be  supplied.  Since  the  telephone  exchange  business  was 
radically  new,  and  therefore  something  of  which  the  pro- 
prietors of  the  telephone  and  the  prospective  operating 
parties  were  alike  totally  ignorant,  it  was  inevitable  that 
the  Association  was  required  to  plan  for  the  business; 
and  after  instructing  itself,  to  impart  such  knowledge  as 
experimentally  or  otherwise,  up  to  any  point,  it  might 
have  gained,  to  its  intended  colleagues;  that  is,  to  those 
who  under  its  authority  had  engaged  in  or  who  were 
about  to  engage  in  the  business  of  operating  exchanges. 

'I'here  was  so  much  to  do,  and  so  much  more  to  think 
of,  plan,  and  learn,  that  it  is  not  surprising  that  notwith- 


I  JO  The    Boston 

standing  the  strenuous  efforts  of  the  Bell  Association 
and  the  little  band  of  Boston  experimenters,  the  year 
1878  dawned  before  the  practical  establishment  of  the 
exchange  business  anywhere. 

The  telephone  central  office  system  at  New  Haven, 
Conn.,  was  opened  for  business  on  Jan.  28,  187S,  and  was 
the  first  fully  equipped  commercial  telephone  exchange 
ever  established  for  public  or  general  service. 

Of  course  more  was  learned  about  the  telephone  ex- 
change business,  and  the  questions  concerned  in  the  con- 
duct of  an  exchange,  by  the  practical  experience  of  one 
brief  month,  than  had  been  by  the  previous  nine  months 
of  speculative  consideration  ;  and  equally  of  course,  the 
example  of  New  Haven  was  speedily  followed  by  other 
cities,  the  subsequent  installation  of  other  exchanges  in 
the  large  cities  being  from  this  time,  and  for  many  months 
thereafter,  a  continuous  performance,  with  the  result  that 
by  March,  1881,  within  a  year  after  the  American  Bell 
Telephone  Company  began  business,  there  were  in  the 
United  States  only  nine  cities  of  more  than  ten  thousand 
inhabitants,  and  only  one  of  more  than  fifteen  thousand, 
without  a  telephone  exchange.     4 

By  this  time  the  work  of  the  Bell  Telephone  Associa- 
tion and  its  management  had  become  so  heavy  that  the 
expediency  of  a  more  formal  and  more  effective  organi- 
zation of  ownership  was  manifest.  The  Association 
realizing  the  necessity,  took  its  first  action  in  this  respect 
by  forming  the  New  England  Telephone  Company, 
which  was  incorporated  under  the  general  laws  of  Mas- 
sachusetts on  Feb.  12,  1878,  with  a  capital  of  two  hundred 
thousand  dollars  ;  and  by  granting  it  the  exclusive  right  to 
use,  license  others  to  use,  and  to  manufacture  telephones, 
in  the  New  England  States.  This  company,  however,  is 
not,  and  has  no  relation  to,  the  New  England  Telephone 
and  Telegraph  Company  now  operating  throughout  the 
major  part  of  New  England  ;  the  latter  being  a  subse- 
quently created  operating  company  formed  by  the  amalga- 
mation of  a  number  of  smaller  original  licensees. 

Attention  was  next  turned  to  ways  and  means  for  ex- 
tending the  use  of  the  telephone  throughout  the  United 


Electrical    Handbook  iji 

States  outside  of  New  England  ;  and  to  this  end  the  As- 
sociation proceeded  to  create  the  Bell  Telephone  Com- 
pan}',  which  was  incorporated  with  a  capital  of  four  hun- 
dred and  fifty  thousand  dollars,  July  30,  1S7S,  also  under 
the  general  laws  of  Massachusetts. 

The  annoyances  inseparable  from  inventorship,  and 
which  uniformly  attend  the  prospectively  successful  op- 
eration of  patented  inventions,  were  now  to  assail  and 
cluster  thickly  round  the  newly-established  industry  ;  and 
a  litigation,  never  again  to  utterly  cease  for  more  than  a 
few  months  at  once,  until  the  expiration  of  the  patents  at 
the  close  of  the  term  of  years  for  which  they  were  re- 
spectively granted,  was  now  to  begin. 

For  seventeen  months  after  the  grant  of  Mr.  Bell's 
original  patent  for  the  telephone,  no  one,  publicly  at 
least,  disputed  his  claims  to  originality  ;  and  nobody  had 
asserted,  as  far  as  was  publicly  known,  that  any  one  ex- 
cept Mr.  Bell  had  originated  any  apparatus  capable  of 
transmitting  spoken  words  ;  or  had  conceived  the  idea  of 
making  the  line  current  similar  in  form  to  the  sound  wave. 
I  le  came  before  the  world  as  the  first  inventor  of  the  speak- 
ing telephone,  and  as  such  every  one  liad  hailed  him.  He 
was  called  upon  l)y  learned  men  to  give  lectures  about 
and  exhibitions  of  his  telephone,  and  he  gave  them  ;  and 
the  practical  and  commercial  success  of  the  speaking  tele- 
phone had  been  unquestionably  attested  by  the  avidity 
with  which  the  public  by  this  time  had  taken  it  up. 

But  by  August,  1877,  the  Western  Union  Telegraph 
Company  —  a  corporation  which  had  established  a  sub- 
stantial monopoly  in  the  transmission  of  intelligence  by 
electricity  —  appears  to  have  become  satisfied  of  the 
great  commercial  value  of  the  speaking  telephone,  and, 
engaging  in  its  manufacture  and  use,  set  up  several  rival 
claimants  to  its  inventorship;  proceeding  within  the  fol- 
lowing year,  in  conjunction  with  its  as.sociates  the  Gold 
and  Stock  Telegraph  Company,  and  a  new  organization 
which  it  had  formed,  tlie  American  Speaking  Telephone 
Company,  to  establish  telephone  exchanges  in  many  im- 
portant cities  and  towns.  The  Western  Union  Company 
was  in  a  good  jiosition  for  tliis  aggressive  action.    It  had 


1^2  The   Boston 

great  experience;  lines  already  constructed  all  over  the 
country;  many  competent  electrical  experts  ;  and,  during 
the  time  between  the  date  of  its  determination  to  use  the 
telephone  as  its  own,  and  that  on  which  it  commenced 
actual  business,  Mr.  Edison,  employed  for  the  express 
purpose,  had  succeeded  in  producing  an  excellent  carbon 
transmitter. 

For  the  rest,  it  was  prepared  to  ignore  the  work  of 
Bell,  and  to  appropriate  to  its  own  use  the  art  and  appar- 
atus he  had  invented  ;  alleging,  of  course,  that  others  had 
done  it  before  him. 

The  possession  of  a  good  battery  transmitter  counted 
heavily  in  favor  of  the  competitor;  and  for  some  months 
which  intervened  before  the  Bell  Companies  could  bring 
their  patents  to  bear  effectually  upon  the  situation,  it  was 
apparent  that  they  labored  under  a  decided  practical  dis 
advantage.  But  during  the  summer  of  1S78  an  excellent 
form  of  transmitter  was  invented  by  Mr.  Francis  Blake, 
which,  being  acquired  by  the  Bell  Telephone  Company, 
was  commercially  introduced  towards  the  end  of  the 
year,  bringing  the  parties  to  the  contest  into  a  more 
nearly  equal  position. 

This  was  the  well-known  Blake  transmitter.  It  was  a 
true  microphone,  and  an  instrument  of  remarkable  merit, 
which  for  sensitiveness  and  range  of  adjustment  has  never 
been  surpassed.  It  received  at  once  high  public  favor,  and 
from  the  time  of  its  introduction  until  the  beginning  of 
the  long-line  system  (when  it  became  gradually  displaced 
by  the  more  powerful,  highly  developed  transmitters  of 
the  "  Runnings  "  or  granular  carbon  type),  it  was  practi- 
cally without  a  rival. 

The  New  England  and  Bell  Telephone  Companies 
had  the  courage  to  bring  suit,  in  September,  1878,  against 
one  Peter  A.  Dowd,  the  Boston  agent  of  the  Western 
Union  Telegraph  Company.  But  after  a  good  deal  of 
evidence  was  taken  on  both  sides,  the  telegraph  company 
became  convinced  that  Bell  was  the  original  and  first  in- 
ventor of  the  electric  speaking  telephone  ;  and  a  settle- 
ment was  effected  between  the  companies  on  Nov.  10, 
1879,  under  which  the  Western  Union  Telegraph  Com- 


Electrical    Handbook  IJJ 

pany  and  its  associates,  acquiescing  in  the  original  inven- 
torship of  Bell,  admitted  that  the  Bell  telephone  patents 
were  good  and  valid  ;  and  agreed  to  discontinue  the  tele- 
phone business,  and  that  the  telephone  inventions  they 
had  acquired,  the  telephones  they  had  made,  and  the 
telephone  exchanges  they  had  established,  should,  for 
suitable  compensation,  pass  under  the  authority  and  con- 
trol of  the  Bell  companies. 

Meanwhile,  the  Bell  and  New  England  Telephone 
Companies  had  coalesced  into  a  third  Boston  corpora- 
tion, which  took  the  name  of  The  National  Bell  Tele- 
phone Company,  and  came  into  existence  on  March  13, 
1879,  with  a  capital  of  3850,000. 

The  brief,  but  (for  the  time  it  existed)  vigorous  Wes- 
tern Union  competition  was  a  kind  of  blessing  in  dis- 
guise. At  any  rate  it  was  not  altogether  unproductive  of 
results  beneficial  to  the  telephone  exchange  business  at 
large.  The  very  fact  that  two  distinct  interests  were 
actively  engaged  in  the  work  of  organizing  and  estab- 
lishing competing  telephone  exchanges  all  over  the  coun- 
try, greatly  facilitated  the  spread  of  the  idea  and  the 
growth  of  the  business,  and  familiarized  the  people  with 
the  use  of  the  telephone  as  a  business  agency  ;  while  the 
keenness  of  the  competition  extending  to  the  agents  and 
employees  of  both  companies,  brought  about  a  swift  but 
quite  unforeseen  and  unlocked  for  expansion  in  the  indi- 
vidual exchanges  of  the  larger  cities,  and  a  correspond- 
ing advance  in  their  importance,  value  and  usefulness. 

It  may  here  be  mentioned,  en  passant,  that  the  busi- 
ness of  producing  anticipators  of  the  achievement  of 
Bell  thus  started,  went  merrily  on  for  the  entire  life  of 
the  Bell  patents  ;  and  although  the  claimants  were  all  one 
after  another  defeated,  and  the  claims  of  each  to  prior  in- 
ventorship promptly  proved  to  be  destitute  of  foundation, 
the  same  baseless  pretensions  were  set  up  over  and  over 
again  throughout  the  entire  litigation,  the  parties  adverse 
to  the  patents  in  each  successive  infringement  suit  intro- 
ducing not  only  those  that  had  appeared  and  been  refuted 
before,  but  also  a  new  crop  of  their  own  ;  so  that  by  the 
time  that  Bell's  patents  had  run  their  course,  the  number 


134  The    Boston 

of  persons  asserted  to  have  invented  the  telephone  before 
him,  and  of  course  each  before  all  of  the  others,  was  by- 
no  means  insignificant.  It  was  the  old  story,  so  aptly 
outlined  by  Milton:  — 

"  The  invention  all  admired, 
And  each,  how  he,  to  be  the  inventor  missed ; 
So  easy  it  seemed  once  found. 
Which  yet  unfound,  most  would  have  thought  impossible." 

At  the  close  of  1879  the  National  Bell  Telephone 
Company  stood  alone,  as  the  proprietor  of  telephony 
within  the  United  States,  and  as  the  exponent  of  the 
telephone  business ;  and  the  character  and  prospects  of 
the  business  having  been  noised  abroad  by  the  litigation 
and  its  outcome,  there  was  no  longer  any  difficulty  in  en- 
listing all  the  capital  which  might  be  required  for  req- 
uisite extension. 

New  capital  had  in  fact  already  been  obtained  and 
new  blood  had  entered  the  counsels  of  the  company. 
The  scope  and  plan  on  which  the  National  Bell  Tele- 
phone Company  had  been  organized  were  seen  to  be  in- 
commensurate to  the  expansion  already  in  sight.  Accord- 
ingly, on  March  19,  1S80,  the  American  Bell  Telephone 
Company  was  incorporated  by  a  special  act  of  the  Massa- 
chusetts Legislature  with  an  authorized  capital  of 
^10,000,000,  and  purchasing  the  property,  took  over  the 
business  of  the  National  Bell  Telephone  Company.  In 
conformity  with  the  growth  of  the  business,  the  American 
Bell  Telephone  Company  increased  its  capital  from  time 
to  time,  so  that  at  the  end  of  1899,  the  outstanding  stock 
amounted  to  about  $26,000,000.  The  property  and  busi- 
ness of  the  company  were  then  transferred  to  the  Ameri- 
can Telephone  and  Telegraph  Company,  a  separate 
corporation  which  it  had  organized  in  1885  to  develop  the 
long  line  business,  and  the  American  Bell  Telephone 
Company  discontinued  its  general  business. 

The  history  of  the  telephone  exchange  is  a  history  of 
steady  and  persistent  effort  and  constant  and  progressive 
improvement ;  alike  in  line  work,  in  central  and  sub- 
station apparatus,  and  in  methods  of  design,  construction, 
operation,  and  administration. 


Electrical    Handbook  IJ^ 

As  has  already  been  pointed  out,  one  of  the  great 
difficulties  at  the  outset  of  the  exchange  business  was  the 
fact  that  no  one,  not  even  those  most  intimately  concerned 
in  its  management,  knew  anything  about  it.  There  was 
nothing  to  know.  The  business  was  absolutely  a  new 
one ;  everything  was  experimental ;  everything  had  to  be 
learned. 

When  in  the  spring  of  iSSo  the  American  Bell  Tele- 
phone Company  assumed  charge  of  the  business,  there 
was  no  underground  construction,  and  the  lines,  for  the 
most  part  of  iron  or  steel,  were  altogether  on  roofs  or 
poles. 

The  telephone  circuits  were  single  wire  lines  with 
earth  returns  ;  cable  making  was  an  imperfectly  mastered 
art,  and  cables  crude  and  untrustworthy  ;  the  use  of  cop- 
per line  wire  was  little  known  and  discountenanced  ;  there 
were  no  standards  in  construction  and  apparatus,  every 
man  doing  and  adopting  what  might  be  right  in  his  own 
eyes. 

But  under  the  wise  and  enterprising  supervision,  emi- 
nent ability  and  sound  judgment  of  William  H.  Forbes, 
the  first  president  of  the  American  Bell  Telephone  Com- 
pany, Theodore  N.  Vail,  its  first  general  manager,  and 
John  E.  Hudson,  who  succeeded  Mr.  Vail  as  general 
manager  and  later  became  president,  the  business  has 
been  gradually  systematized,  and  these  imperfections 
have  disappeared. 

In  the  twenty-four  years  which  have  elapsed  since 
that  time,  reliable  low  capacity  poly-conductor  cables, 
mainly  employing  air  as  an  insulating  medium,  have  been 
devised  and  their  employment  has  become  universal ; 
underground  construction  has  become  the  rule  instead  of 
the  exception  ;  beginning  with  the  year  1883  a  metallic 
circuit  system  of  long  distance  lines  has  been  built  of 
hard  drawn  copper  wire,  and  has  overspread  the  country  ; 
the  average  excellency  of  these  long  lines,  terminating  as 
they  do  in  switchboards  at  exchange  central  stations,  has 
resulted  in  correspondingly  improved  construction  in  ex- 
changes everywhere,  including  the  substitution  of  copper 
for  iron  as  a  material  for  line  wire,  and  the  metallic  cir- 


136 


The    Boston 


cuit  for  the  ground  return  single-conductor  line;  the 
operating  companies  now  have  their  own  buildings 
specially  designed  to  accommodate  the  central  station 
operating  rooms,  and  affording  facilities  for  the  ingress 
of  the  subterranean  cables ;  an  elaborate  system  of  pro- 
tection has  been  provided  for  both  ends  of  each  telephone 
line,  and  where  such  lines  pass  through  cables,  at  the 
cable  ends  also,  to  take  care  of  trespassing  currents  strong 
enough  to  be  destructive  ;  and  lastly,  but  by  no  means  of 
least  importance,  the  old  and  well-known  hand  operated 
magneto  machine  —  for  years  the  most  approved  call- 
sending  apparatus, —  and  the  multitudinous  batteries  of 
which  one  was  provided  with  the  transmitter  of  each  user 
to  furnish  current  for  its  operation,  have  both  been  super- 
seded in  the  modern  well-appointed  exchange,  by  a  single 
central  station  battery  which  supplies  not  only  the  electric 
current  for  all  the  transmitters  of  the  outlying  stations, 
but  also  for  the  transmitters  of  the  central  station,  and 
for  the  switchboard  call  and  supervisory  signals.  By 
this  change  a  few  cells  of  battery  are  enabled  to  take  the 
place  and  do  the  work  of  many ;  and  the  establishment 
of  the  few  retained  cells  at  the  central  station  where  they 
may  always  be  under  skilled  supervision  is  provided  for. 

These  advances  which  have  systematized  the  techni- 
cal side  of  telephony,  and  which  have  received  the 
approval  of,  and  have  been  made  available  by  the  fore- 
most telephone  engineers  in  all  parts  of  the  earth,  are 
largely  attributable  to  the  ability  and  persevering  appli- 
cation of  the  headquarters'  engineering  staff ;'  and  to  the 
stimulating  and  encouraging  attitude  towards  practical 
and  meritorious  improvement  in  appliances  and  methods 
which  has  uniformly  characterized  the  Boston  manage- 
ment. 

Not  only  is  Boston  intimately  associated  with  the  in- 
vention of  the  telephone  and  the  technical  development 
of  the  telephone  industry,  but  it  remains  the  centre  of 
the  telephonic  development  of  the  United  States.  The 
courage  and  far-sightedness  of  the  group  of  Boston  men 
who  at  the  start  put  in  their  money  boldly,  and  worked 
out  plans  for  a  broad  and  complete  development  of  the 


Electrical    Handbook  137 

industry,  have  come  down  to  those  still  actively  con- 
cerned in  the  ever-increasing  extension  of  the  network  of 
wires  now  covering  the  whole  country. 

The  American  Bell  Telephone  Company,  after  long 
years  of  litigation,  found  itself  confirmed  in  its  patents 
and  in  a  position  to  utilize  the  great  invention.  But  the 
men  who  had  faith  in  the  value  of  the  telephone  as  a 
factor  in  modern  social  and  commercial  life  had  not 
been,  during  these  years  of  litigation,  content  to  accept 
what  was  then  considered  to  be  the  best  in  this  tield.  On 
the  contrary  they  worked  steadily  and  patiently  to  devise 
means  which  should  make  the  great  fundamental  inven- 
tion more  useful  and  better  apphcable  to  all  the  varying 
conditions  which  are  met  in  a  modern  community. 

At  the  outset  an  experimental  department  was  estab- 
lished, where  problems  concerning  the  clear  transmission 
of  speech  under  varying  conditions,  the  use  of  cables  for 
telephone  wires,  and  the  future  employment  of  under- 
ground wires,  were  given  thorough,  careful,  scientific  in- 
vestigation, always  looking  towards  the  end  of  improving 
the  service  and  increasing  the  facilities  which  the  com- 
panies might  offer  to  the  public.  The  work  was  carried 
on  strictly  in  accordance  with  the  fundamental  principle, 
firmly  established  in  the  minds  of  those  interested,  that 
whatever  would  extend  the  use  of  the  telephone  would  be 
for  the  benefit  alike  of  the  public  at  large  and  those  who 
had  invested  their  money. 

The  numerous  telephone  companies,  not  connected 
with  the  Bell  system,  which  have  sprung  up  in  various 
parts  of  the  country,  have  had  the  advantage  of  this  care- 
ful work. 

It  was  but  a  few  years  after  the  invention  of  the  tele 
phone,  namely  in  iSSi,  that  tiie  following  statement  was 
made  in  the  annual  report  of  the  directors  of  the  Ameri 
can  Bell  Telephone  Company:  — 

"It  will  take  some  time  yet  to  get  first-rate  .service  in 
a  large  network  of  towns,  as  the  practical  difficulties  at 
least  equal  tiiose  whicii  were  met  in  giving  prompt  con- 
nection within  the  limits  of  one  city,  but  nothing  butexpe 
rience  and  tests  of  various  methods  are  needed  to  enal)le 
such  groups  of  exchanges  to  reach  satisfactory  results." 


rjS 


The   Boston 


This  quotation  shows  how  plainly  the  officers  foresaw 
the  telephone  organization  as  it  exists  to-day,  a  network 
of  companies  working  together  to  secure  a  service  as  far- 
reaching  as  the  conlines  of  the  United  States,  with  con- 
nections extending  into  other  parts  of  North  America. 

The  original  plan  upon  which  the  telephone  business 
was  started  provided  for  the  issuance  of  a  license  by  the 
American  Bell  Telephone  Company,  the  owners  of  the 
patents,  to  use  the  Bell  patents  within  certain  defined 
territories,  the  instruments  being  furnished  by  the  Bell 
Company.  At  first  these  areas  were  small.  Rights  were 
given  to  use  the  invention  in  perhaps  a  single  county,  or 
even  a  single  city  ;  but  as  time  went  on  it  was  found  that 
this  did  not  yield  the  best  results,  and  as  early  as  1883  we 
find  in  the  directors'  report  the  following  :  — 

"An  important  feature  has  been  the  consolidation  of 
local  telephone  interests  into  large  companies  covering 
nianv  counties,  and  even  in  several  instances  the  whole 
or  the  greater  part  of  entire  States." 

In  1884  the  report  of  the  directors  treated  this  subject 
more  fully  :  — 

"The  tendency  toward  consolidation  of  telephone 
companies  noticed  in  uur  last  report  has  continued,  and 
is  for  the  mo^t  part  in  tlie  interest  of  economical  and  con- 
venient handling  of  the  business.  The  connection  of 
many  towns  together,  causing  large  territories  to  assume 
the  character  of  great  telephone  exchanges,  made  it  of 
importance  to  bring  as  large  areas  as  possible  under  one 
management  toinsure  simple  and  convenient  arrangements 
for  furnisliing  rapid  intercommunication.  As  methods 
are  devised  for  making  the  telephone  commercially  useful 
over  long  lines,  the  advantages  of  this  centralization  of 
management  will  be  still  more  apparent,  as  well  as  the 
importance  to  the  put)lic  of  having  the  business  done  in 
large  territories  under  one  responsible  head,  with  far- 
reaching  connections  throughout  the  whole  country. 

"To  make  this  service  of  the  highest  value  to  the 
people  will  be  complicated  enough  under  one  control. 
Were  it  in  the  hands  of  many  competing  companies,  the 
confu.sion  resulting  would  be  very  serious,  as  the  value  of 
the  telephone  will  be  largely  measured  by  its  capacity  to 
give  prompt  connection  with  all  parts  of  the  country. 

"  The  cjuestion  of  bringing  this  about  to  the  best  ad- 
vantacre  is  the  one  to  which  we  have  now  to  address  our- 


Electrical    Handbook  Ijg 

selves.  The  task  is  no  light  one,  and  it  is  one  in  which 
we  have  a  common  interest  with  the  public;  and  in  spite 
of  tlie  prevailing  opinion  that  the  development  of  the  tele- 
phone substantially  under  one  control  is  against  public 
interest,  we  believe  that  an  intelligent  examination  of  this 
question  would  demonstrate  that  this  is  not  true,  and  that 
in  no  other  way  could  the  desired  results  be  obtained  and 
the  difficulties  be  surmounted  so  rapidly  and  so  well  as  by 
the  present  one." 

With  the  movement  towards  consolidation  it  was  seen 
at  once  that  large  sums  of  money  must  be  raised  for  the 
extension  of  the  business ;  and  in  order  to  aid  the  operating 
companies,  and  at  the  same  time  to  keep  such  an  interest 
in  them  as  would  enable  the  owners  of  the  patents  to 
assist  in  giving  the  public  telephone  service,  the  policy 
of  the  company  owning  the  patents  was  to  invest  in  the 
stock  of  the  companies  operating  under  licenses,  and 
funds,  secured  by  issue  of  the  stock  of  the  American 
Bell  Telephone  Company,  were  sown  broadcast  in  con- 
struction over  the  whole  United  States.  Almost  all  of 
this  money  was  secured  from  a  group  of  Boston  and  New 
England  investors,  who  had  faith  in  the  management  and 
the  policy  outlined. 

The  result  of  this  policy  of  investment  in  local  com- 
panies has  been  that  the  American  Telephone  and  Tele- 
graph Company  has  at  present  a  financial  interest  in  the 
telephone  business  in  every  part  of  the  United  States. 
It  has  persistently  and  steadily  worked  towards  the  end 
that  there  shall  be  a  system  of  telephones  and  telephonic 
communication  so  homogeneous  in  its  construction  and  its 
methods  that,  regardless  of  the  part  of  the  country  where 
it  may  be  used,  or  however  distant  the  point  with  which 
communication  may  be  desired,  every  part  of  the  ma- 
chinery of  administration  and  operation  shall  work  to- 
gether harmoniously  to  give  the  best  possible  results  to 
the  public. 

The  American  Telephone  and  Telegraph  Company  is 
only  in  a  minor  degree  an  operating  company.  It  has  a 
department  which  builds  and  operates  the  so-called  Long 
Distance  lines,  whose  object  is  to  tie  together  the  lines  of 
the  various  local  companies,  and  to  handle  the  business 


/^O  The   Boston 

which  passes  from  the  territory  of  one  of  the  operating 
companies  into  that  of  another,  and  this  business  is  han- 
dled from  the  New  York  office. 

The  American  Telephone  and  Telegraph  Company, 
so  far  as  its  Boston  organization  is  concerned,  acts  as  an 
advisory  body  through  which  harmony  of  methods  is 
sought.  Its  engineering  department  and  its  accounting 
department  seek  so  to  combine  and  consolidate,  and 
study  the  information  received  from  all  of  the  companies 
actually  operating  telephone  systems  as  to  produce  a 
system  which  will  be  uniform,  and  which  will  work 
smoothly  and  economically  in  whatever  part  of  the 
country  it  may  be  used.  Standard  methods  for  con- 
struction of  pole  lines,  standard  types  for  switchboards 
and  other  apparatus,  and  standard  methods  of  accounting 
are  prepared  and  presented  to  the  companies  operating, 
not  as  compulsory  methods  to  be  employed,  but  as 
methods  which,  in  the  judgment  of  those  who  have 
access  to  the  widest  possible  range  of  information,  have 
commended  themselves  as  worthy  of  careful  consideration 
by  the  workers  in  the  field. 

Akin  to  these  plans,  by  which  standard  methods  are 
recommended,  are  the  careful  studies  made  by  the  engi- 
neering department,  showing  the  probable  lines  of  tele- 
phonic development  in  large  cities.  These  studies  serve 
as  a  guide  to  those  in  charge  of  the  exchanges  at  different 
points.  They  indicate  the  proper  location  for  the  ex- 
change buildings,  and  the  streets  in  which  underground 
construction  ought  to  be  carried  out.  In  preparing  them, 
the  engineers  take  into  consideration  the  present  location 
of  the  telephone  subscribers,  the  probable  growth  in 
population  of  the  cities,  and  the  geographical  direction 
in  which  this  growth  is  likely  to  take  place,  and  their 
report  contains  recommendations  for  underground  con- 
duits and  cables  of  sufficient  size,  laid  out  upon  such 
lines  as  will  insure  future  extensions  being  made  upon 
economical  lines.  These  questions  present  problems  of 
such  vital  interest  to  the  companies  operating,  that  the 
existence  of  this  central  organization,  which  can  collate 
the  results  of  the  experience  of  all  those  who  have  seen 


Electrical    Handbook  T4I 

the  practical  side  of  the  problem,  is  of  immense  impor- 
tance to  them,  both  from  a  technical  and  financial 
standpoint. 

The  flexibility  of  a  system  of  administration  under 
which  a  central  advisory  body  deals  with  problems  on 
broad  lines,  and  allows  to  local  management  in  the  field 
the  adaptation  to  local  conditions  of  the  general  conclu- 
sions laid  down,  is  one  of  the  factors  which  has  led  to 
the  steady  and  uniform  development  of  the  Bell  tele- 
phone system. 

The  plan  of  organization  of  the  Bell  telephone  system, 
laid  out  almost  from  the  beginning  of  the  corporate  ex- 
istence of  the  company,  is  simple  and  elastic.  Here  in 
Boston  is  located  the  central  company,  which  in  the 
beginning  w^as  the  owner  of  the  patents  and  granted 
licenses  for  the  use  of  the  patented  devices,  but  which 
has  from  time  to  time  invested  large  sums  of  money  in 
the  securities  of  those  companies  which  actually  fur- 
nished local  telephone  service,  and  in  addition  has  built 
the  long  distance  lines  which  bind  together  the  various 
operating  companies. 

Then,  with  general  offices  located  in  some  thirty-five 
cities  scattered  over  the  United  States,  we  have  the 
operating  companies,  in  which  the  parent  company  has  a 
financial  interest,  and  for  whose  interests  it  acts  as  a 
central  advisory  body. 

Then,  beyond  these  companies,  which  have  this  direct 
connection  with  the  American  Telephone  and  Telegraph 
Company,  lies  a  group  of  smaller  companies  built  by 
local  capital  and  managed  by  local  men,  which,  by  the 
adoption  of  uniform  methods  and  the  employment  of 
IjcU  instruments,  furnished  for  a  small  annual  charge, 
secure  connection  with  the  great  toll  line  system  of  the 
operating  companies  and  the  longdistance  lines  of  the 
American  Telephone  and  Telegraph  Company. 

In  this  way  it  is  possible  for  any  small  communitj', 
at  slight  expense,  to  .secure  the  benefits  of  the  great 
national  system  of  the  Bell  companies. 

Starting  in  1S84  with  the  experimental  line  between 
Boston  and   New   York,  the   long  distance  service   has 


i^  The   Boston 

grown  with  enormous  rapidity,  until  to-day  it  reaches 
over  all  of  the  eastern  section  of  the  country,  meeting 
the  Canadian  system  at  various  points  on  the  boundary 
line,  and  extending  beyond  the  Mississippi  nearly  to  the 
western  edge  of  Nebrasl<a.  On  the  south,  Jacksonville, 
Mobile,  and  New  Orleans  are  readied  by  these  lines, 
and  in  the  southwest,  Dallas.  But  140  miles  remains  to 
be  built  to  connect  the  telephone  systems  of  the  Rocky 
Mountains  and  Pacific  Coast  with  this  great  eastern 
system  ;  and,  in  the  northwest,  the  lines  reach  Duluth 
and  connect  with  Canadian  lines  extending  to  Winnipeg. 
Over  all  these  lines  conversations  are  carried  on,  the 
longest  actually  used  commercially  being  the  line  from 
Boston  to  Omaha,  which  is  used  every  day  by  one  of  the 
large  packing  houses. 

Starting  on  small  lines,  groping  their  way  as  to  the 
best  methods  of  constructing  and  operating  teleplione 
systems,  as  to  the  best  plans  for  rates  for  service,  and  as 
to  the  best  methods  for  supplying  the  public  demand 
and  dealing  fairly  with  the  public,  the  systems  embraced 
in  the  various  associated  Bell  telephone  companies  of 
the  United  States  have  grown  with  enormous  rapidity. 

With  this  growth,  there  has  sprung  up  a  multitude  of 
new  uses  for  the  teleplione.  We  find  in  office  buildings 
and  hotels  the  private  branch  exchange  ;  in  other  words, 
a  small  exchange  connected  with  the  main  city  exchange 
by  a  number  of  trunk  lines,  but  having  its  own  operator, 
and  having  connected  to  it  all  tlie  telephones  in  the 
building.  This  allows  a  smaller  number  of  wires  to  be 
extended  from  the  building  to  the  central  office,  and  yet 
furnishes  ample  facilities,  and  at  the  same  time  all  those 
located  within  the  building  can  have  communication  with 
one  another  without  taking  up  the  time  of  the  operators 
at  the  central  exchange. 

A  striking  application  of  this  system  is  the  hotel 
.service,  where  every  guest's  room  and  every  department 
of  the  hotel  is  provided  with  a  telephone  instrument. 
Thiough  the  private  switchboard,  located  in  .some  con- 
venient part  of  the  hotel,  communication  can  be  had  not 
only  within   the   hotel  and  with   all   the  telephones  con- 


Electrical    Handbook  i^j 

nected  with  the  city  exchange,  but  by  means  of  the  long 
distance  lines  of  the  Bell  company  a  guest  at  a  hotel,  say 
in  Boston,  may  talk  with  a  friend  in  a  hotel  in  Chicago 
without  leaving  their  respective  rooms. 

Telephones  of  special  design,  adapted  for  special 
uses,  may  be  found  in  mines  and  on  railroad  and  street 
railway  systems,  and  in  some  of  the  larger  and  newer 
houses  tlie  older  systems  of  electric  bells  and  speaking 
tubes  have  been  displaced  by  a  private  telephone  equip- 
ment communicating  with  every  part  of  the  house. 

Trains  have  been  equipped  throughout  their  entire 
length  with  telephones,  so  that  travellers  may  converse 
without  the  trouble  of  passing  from  one  car  to  another ; 
and  when  the  train  draws  up  to  a  railroad  station,  by 
means  of  a  flexible  conductor  the  train  system  is  con- 
nected to  the  local  system,  so  that  passengers  may  talk 
to  their  friends  in  the  town,  and  may  even  carry  on  long 
distance  conversations.  Steamships  are  provided  with 
interior  telephone  systems,  and  these  can  also  be  con- 
nected to  that  of  the  city  when  the  steamer  is  lying  at 
the  dock. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  fields  of  the  recent 
development  of  the  telephone  has  been  in  the  application 
of  the  telephone  to  the  railway  service.  Telephone 
messages  and  telegraph  messages  may  be  sent  simulta- 
neously over  the  same  wire,  and  at  small  stations  and 
out-of-the-way  points  it  is  no  longer  necessary  to  have  a 
telegraph  operator,  as  by  the  introduction  of  the  tele- 
phone on  such  lines,  the  station  agent  may  be  in  constant 
communication  with  the  train  dispatcher  and  officials  at 
headquarters. 

Indeed,  the  uses  to  which  the  telephone  may  he  put 
are  so  many  that  it  is  scarcely  possible  to  enumerate 
them  here.  More  important  from  a  social  standpoint 
than  any  of  these  mentioned  has  been  the  rapid  exten- 
sion of  the  telephone  among  the  farmers  and  into  the 
rural  districts.  In  many  places  farmers  have  built  their 
own  lines  into  the  exchange  limits,  and  placing  from  ten 
to  twenty  instruments  on  a  line,  have  thus  put  themselves 
into  close  communiration  with  their  market  towns  and 


t44 


The    Boston 


the  larger  centres  of  population.  The  farmers  on  any 
individual  line  are  able  to  converse  with  one  another 
without  calling  up  the  central  station,  and  by  means  of 
the  central  office,  often  located  in  a  farmer's  house  and 
attended  by  his  wife  or  daughter,  these  isolated  farm- 
houses can  be  brought  into  connection  with  all  the  sur- 
rounding country.  For  use  in  emergences  like  sickness 
or  fire,  for  general  gossip  from  one  house  to  another, 
taking  away  much  of  the  terror  of  the  isolated  existence 


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Growtli  of  Connections 

on  the  larger  farms  of  the  West,  and  for  the  speedy 
apprehension  of  criminals  and  protection  against  thieves, 
the  telephone  has  changed  the  entire  aspect  of  farm  life. 
From  a  commercial  standpoint,  an  enormous  saving 
has  been  made  to  the  farmer  by  enabling  him  to  receive 
market  quotations  for  his  products,  and  he  has  been 
relieved  from  the  prevarications  of  the  buyer,  who  for- 
merly made  his  price  to  the  farmer  without  regard  to  the 
price  at  the  great  market  centres  Thanks  to  the  tele- 
phone, he  is  not  obliged  to  carry  his  produce  to  the 
market  and  find  it  overstocked,  for  in  five  minutes  he 
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Electrical    Handbook 


145 


has  to  sell,  or  can  find,  in  the  case  of  the  great  staples 
like  wheat  and  cotton,  whether  the  prices  are  such  as  he 
is  desirous  of  accepting.  He  can,  moreover,  every  morn- 
ing, receive  the  government  predictions  regarding  the 
weather  for  the  next  twenty -four  hours,  and  when  any 
special  warning  bulletins  of  storms  or  early  frosts  are 
sent  out  from  Washington,  these,  by  means  of  the 
telephone,  are  distributed  among  the  farms,  and  heavy 
losses  are  prevented  by  such  timely  warnings. 


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ISWJ  '82     'SI    "60     '8B  1830    '32     'W     "80     ''JS    1300    02 
r.rowth  of  Circuits 

The  magnitude  of  this  industry,  which,  starting  here 
in  Hoston  less  than  thirty  years  ago,  has  spread  in  that 
time  to  all  the  ends  of  the  world,  is  well  shown  by  the 
figures  recently  issued  by  the  Census  Department  at 
Washington,  showing  the  telephone  development  of  the 
United  States  at  the  close  of  1902,  and  including  the 
figures  of  both  Bell  and  independent  companies.  There 
were  at  that  time  2.137,256  subscribers  connected  with 
exchange  systems,  and  of  these  1,277,983  were  subscribers 
to  the  Hell  system.  There  were  almost  5.000.000  miles 
of  single  wire  in  use  in  the  United  States,  and  over 
10.000  exchanges. 


1^6 


The    Boston 


But  the  most  significant  figures  shown  were  those  of 
the  number  of  messages  —  4,949,850,491  exchange  mes- 
sages and  120,704,854  long  distance  and  toll  messages, 
making  a  total  of  over  5,070,000,000,  of  which  approxi- 
mately 60  per  cent  pass  over  the  lines  of  the  companies 
making  up  the  Bell  system.  These  figures  are  more 
significant  in  showing  the  important  part  which  the  tele- 
phone plays  in  the  life  of  this  country  when  we  consider 
the  fact  that  the  number  of  letters  and  post  cards  pass- 


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ISSO     '82       .N4       sn       SS    ISUO     UL'        IM       'M      US    IIHX)    '02      '04 

Growth  of  Traffic  and   Employees 

ing  through  the  United  States  mail  in  1903  was  only 
5,034,000,000  as  against  5.070,000,000  telephone  messages, 
and  that  in  that  year  the  total  number  of  telegraph 
messages  only  reached  92.000,000.  Judging  from  the 
ratio  of  growth  of  the  Bell  telephone  companies,  the 
messages  transmitted  over  the  telephone  lines  of  the 
United  States  during  the  year  1904  will  far  exceed  the 
number  of  letters  and  postal  cards  transmitted  through 
the  United  States  mail. 

At  the  date  of  the  last  annual  report  of  the  American 
Telephone  and  Telegraph  Company  on  December  31, 
1903,  there  were  1,525,167  stations  in  the  United  States, 


Electrical    Handbook  i^y 

and  the  average  number  of  daily  calls  per  station  was 
six  and  one-half.  That  this  enormous  extension  of  busi- 
ness calls  for  vast  sums  of  money  is  shown  by  the  fact 
that  during  the  four  years  from  1900  to  1903  inclusive, 
the  sum  of  $135,329,700  was  added  to  the  telephone  con- 
struction of  the  companies  making  up  this  Bell  system. 
This  sum  was  divided  in  the  following  way:  approxi- 
mately $94,300,000  was  used  for  exchange  construction 
and  equipment,  531.400.000  for  toll  wires,  and  59.600.000 
for  real  estate  and  buildings  used  for  telephone  exchanges 
and  offices. 

With  this  vast  plant  growing  out  of  the  invention 
made  by  Mr.  Bell  in  1875  and  the  enormous  use  made  of 
it,  it  is  hard  to  estimate  what  the  saving  from  an 
economic  standpoint  has  been  to  the  world  at  large. 
We  are  accustomed  to  think  of  the  wonderful  develop- 
ment of  the  telegraph  system,  now  double  the  age  of  the 
telephone,  and  we  find  it  transmitting  in  the  United 
States  92.000,000  messages  a  year,  while  the  telephone, 
in  its  thirty  years,  has  reached  a  point  where  it  sends 
more  than  this  number  of  messages  every  week. 

It  is  hard  to  realize  what  a  modern  community  would 
i)e  without  the  telephone  ;  and  to  the  small  scattered 
villages  and  the  isolated  farmhouses  the  loss  of  the  tele- 
phone would  be  even  greater  than  would  be  the  case  if  it 
were  to  be  eliminated  from  our  cities.  It  would  be  an 
inconvenience  and  a  tremendous  waste  of  energy  if  we 
were  obliged  to  .send  messengers  or  write  letters  for  all 
of  the  thousand  and  one  things  for  which  we  use  the 
telephone,  or  to  spend  our  own  time  in  walking  around 
ihe  streets  and  making  useless  journeys,  finding  people 
not  at  home,  but  in  the  city  we  could  get  along.  But  to 
tlie  people  who  are  scattered  all  over  the  country,  where 
tiie  absence  of  the  telephone  means  long  delay.s,  it  is 
impossible  to  make  any  statement  in  figures  which  in 
any  way  shows  the  value  to  everybody  of  this  invention. 

The  telephone  is  unique  in  one  feature,  —  the  persons 
who  use  this  means  of  communication  are  brought 
together  in  such  a  way  as  to  enable  them  to  transmit 
their  messages  themselves ;  there  is  no  giving  the  mes- 


I^  The    Boston 

sage  to  some  one  to  send  —  the  very  tones  of  the  voice 
are  reproduced  at  the  distant  point  and  are  easily  recog- 
nizable. It  is  as  if  we  were  actually  listening  with  eyes 
shut  to  some  one  speaking.  The  simplicity  of  the  use 
of  the  telephone  makes  it  possible  for  any  one  who  can 
speak  to  use  it:  it  can  transmit  any  language,  and  is  as 
available  for  the  Chinaman  or  the  Turk  as  for  the 
Englishman  or  Italian.  There  is  no  need  for  trans- 
forming Oriental  languages  into  conventional  letters,  as 
is  the  case  with  the  telegraph,  nor  for  skilled  employes 
to  transmit  the  message.  The  messages  are  spoken  by 
the  sender  and  heard  by  the  receiver,  and  there  is  no 
intervention  by  any  one. 

From  its  earliest  conception  down  to  the  present  day, 
Boston  has  been  the  heart  of  the  telephone  industry, 
from  which  there  has  spread  not  only  throughout  the 
United  States  but  throughout  the  world,  this  wonderful 
means  for  bringing  people  separated  from  one  another 
by  long  distances  or  by  physical  disability  into  instant 
communication,  allowing  the  exchange  of  business  and 
social  communications,  and  revolutionizing  the  social 
and  commercial  life  wherever  it  has  been  introduced. 

That  the  field  is  covered  at  the  present  time  no  one 
hints.  Vast  sums  of  money  are  necessary  to  complete 
the  extension  of  the  present  Bell  system,  but  the  time 
will  come  when  every  dwelling  and  place  of  business  in 
the  country  will  regard  the  telephone  as  essential  for 
every  day  life  as  is  artificial  light.  When  every  house- 
hold is  provided  with  a  telephone  it  will  then  begin  to  be 
time  to  talk  of  the  saturation  of  the  population  with 
telephone  facilities,  but  not  until  this  stage  is  reached. 

The  nearer  this  point  of  saturation  is  reached  the 
more  evident  it  will  become  that  in  the  very  nature  of 
things  the  telephone  systems  must  be  so  allied  and  con- 
nected as  to  furnish  one  system.  It  is  impossible  to 
conceive  that  a  means  of  communication,  which  owes  its 
value  to  the  number  of  persons  which  it  can  reach,  can 
be  of  the  highest  value  to  all  the  people  when  some 
telephones  are  connected  to  one  central  system  and 
others  to  a  different  one.     The  full  development  of  this 


Electrical    Handbook  i^g 

means  of  communication  can  only  be  reached  when  one 
great  national  system  has  been  created  —  when  each  and 
every  user  can  reach  every  one  who  has  a  telephone. 
Then  and  then  only  can  this  invention,  created  in  Boston 
and  built  up  here  to  its  present  condition,  secure  to  the 
public  the  full  value  of  the  work  of  Alexander  Graham 
Bell. 


New  England  Telephone  and 
Telegraph  Company 

ONE  of  the  largest  companies  in  the  United 
States,  constituting  a  part  of  the  American 
Bell  Telephone  system,  is  the  New  England 
Telephone  and  Telegraph  Company,  which 
has  its  principal  executive  office  in  Boston,  and  operates 
the  exchanges  and  toll  lines  in  Maine,  New  Hampshire, 
Vermont,  and  Massachusetts,  serving  an  aggregate  popu- 
lation of  4,255,000. 

The  operating  companies  coordinated  with  the  Ameri- 
can Telephone  and  Telegraph  Company  undertake  the 
colossal  work  of  organizing  the  telephone  service  of  the 
country.  Their  success  is  witnessed  by  the  immense 
volume  of  business  done  annually  and  the  prodigious 
network  of  wires  that  now  reaches  almost  every  corner 
of  the  United  States.  The  work  in  New  England  alone 
is  comparable  with  that  developed  in  the  territory  of 
one  of  the  Great  Powers. 

The  Company  was  organized  in  1883  by  the  consolida- 
tion of  several  local  companies  which  had  constructed 
exchanges  in  many  of  the  more  important  cities  and 
towns,  and  while  others  of  the  American  Bell  companies 
cover  a  wider  area  and  serve  a  larger  population,  no 
section  of  the  country  presents  more  varied  conditions, 
or  has  furnished  a  more  interesting  field  for  the  develop- 
ment of  the  telephone  industry  than  this  portion  of  the 
New  England  States. 

Maine  has  its  lumbering  and  manufacturing  interests 
its  fisheries,  quarries  and  lime  kilns,  its  ship-building 
plants,  and  grand  stretch  of  sea-coast;  New  Hampshire, 
aptly  designated  "  The  Granite  State",  has  cotton  and 


Electrical    Handbook 


151 


woolen  mills,  and  its  beautiful  mountain  scenery,  which 
attracts   a   summer    population   from    all   parts    of   the 
United  States:  \'ermont,  "The  Green  Mountain  State," 
also  famous  for  its  scenery,  has  marble  and  other  indus- 
tries; Massachusetts  has  its  great  maritime,  commercial, 
financial    and    manufacturing  interests.    While   none  of 
these  states  is  looked  upon  primarily  as  agricultural,  each 
has  large  and    prosperous  farming  communities,  which 
retain  the  qualities  that  have 
characterized   the    New   Eng- 
land people  from  the  earliest 
times,    of    industry,    frugality 
and  thrift;  communities,  too, 
in  which  is  found  a  compara- 
tively high   degree  of  educa- 
tion,   and    a    well    developed 
public  school  system. 

When  the  New  England 
Company  was  formed,  the  tele- 
phone business  was  in  the 
earlier  stages  of  its  develop- 
ment. Numerous  small  com- 
panies had  been  establi.'^hed, 
each  operating  in  a  single 
city  or  town,  or  at 
most  in  a  very  limited 
area,  and  having 
toll  connections, 
if  any,  only  to 
adjacent 
points.  For 
tlie  most 
part  the 
lines  were 
iron  ground  return  circuits,  the  central  office  appa- 
ratus of  various  types,  long  since  discarded.  The 
American  public,  especially  that  portion  which  repre- 
sented large  commercial  and  financial  interests,  had 
even  then,  come  to  recognize  in  the  telephone  an  impor- 
tant and  valuable  agent  for  the  conduct  of  business  and 


152 


The    Boston 


professional  affairs,  but  its  use  had,  to  that  time,  been 
confined  principally  to  the  larger  business  and  industrial 
concerns  and  to  people  of  liberal  means. 

The  term  which  has  elapsed  since  that  period  has 
been  one  of  marvellous 
progress  in  the  tele- 
phone business  of  New 
England,  not  only  in 
enlargement  of  the 
business,  but  in  im- 
provement of  the 
character  of  plant, 
equipment,  and  meth- 
ods of  operation.  At 
the  beginning  of  that 
term,  the  exchange 
stations  numbered 
about  fourteen  thou- 
sand. The  company 
has  now  connected 
with  its  system  of  ex- 
changes and  toll  lines 
more  than  ten  times 
that  number. 

To   accomplish    the 
results     already    at- 
tained   has    not    only 
involved  the  expendi- 
ture of  many  millions 
of   dollars   for    exten- 
sions of  the   property,  but  the  frequent  rebuilding   and 
replacement  of  lines  and  equipment.     New  and  approved 
forms    of     central    office    apparatus     have    been    sub- 
stituted  for  that  of  older  and  less  effective  design  so 
fast  as  improvements  in  the  art  have  been  made ;  sub- 
stantially  the   entire   system   has   been   converted  from 
ground  return  to  metallic  circuits,  and  copper  wire  and 
cables  have  been  substituted  for  iron  wire  to   a  great 
extent.     More  than  two-thirds  of   the  entire  mileage  of 
wire  used  by  the  Company  for  exchange  purposes  has 


Electrical    Handbook  ijj 

been  placed  underground,  and  in  the  larger  cities  and 
towns  buildings  of  fireproof  construction  have  been 
erected  at  the  centres  of  underground  distribution, 
especially  designed  to  serve  the  requirements  of  the 
exchanges.  In  the  large  exchanges  relay  switchboards, 
with  central  power  plants  and  lamp  signals,  have  been 
installed,  and  others  of  the  same  character  will  be 
erected  during  this  year.  Within  that  time  also  a  sys- 
tem of  toll  lines  has  been  constructed,  connecting  the 
numerous  exchanges  and  toll  stations  in  the  four  states 
above  named,  having  a  wire  mileage  of  nearly  one 
hundred  thousand  miles. 

The  management  of  the  New  England  Telephone  and 
Telegraph  Company  has  realized  that  the  constant 
additions  which  have  been  made,  year  by  year,  to  the 
number  of  exchange  stations  have  not  only  been  condu- 
cive to  the  stability  and  strength  of  the  business,  but 
have  added  materially  to  the  value  and  usefulness  of  the 
service  to  the  whole  body  of  its  subscribers;  and  it  has 
aimed  to  extend  and  enlarge  tlie  business  as  rapidly  as 
is  consistent  with  sound  business  methods,  and  to  bring 
the  service,  so  far  as  possible,  within  the  reach  of  all 
classes  in  the  community  who  can  use  it  to  their 
advantage. 

To  this  end  not  only  the  best  and  most  economical 
methods  of  construction  and  operation  have  been  made 
the  object  of  constant  study,  but  also  such  adjustment 
and  graduation  of  rates  and  service  as  would  provide 
alike  for  the  requirements  of  subscribers  having  large 
Ijusine.ss  interests  and  the  tradesman  or  householder  of 
smaller  means,  whose  use  of  the  service  is  more  limited. 
Under  the  plan  of  development  adopted  by  the  New 
England  Company,  the  result  has  followed  that  the 
service  within  its  territory  is  employed  not  principally  by 
persons  of  large  means  and  extended  interests,  but,  to  a 
ferger  and  increasing  extent,  by  tho.se  of  moderate  means, 
who  find  it  of  value  in  the  conduct  of  busines.s,  or  a 
convenience  and  safeguard  in  their  homes. 

The  gradual  extension  of  telephone  lines  to  all  the 
towns   and    villages  still    left    the   service   of    the   rural 


154- 


T  he    Boston 


districts,  which  contain  a  large  percentage  of  the  popu- 
lation, undeveloped.  The  plan  first  adopted  to  supply 
this  deficiency  was  that  known  as  the  sub-license  plan, 
upon  which  the  New  England  Company  allowed  local 
companies  or  groups  of  residents  to  develop  limited 
sections  of  its  territory,  furnishing  them  Bell  telephones 
at  a  reasonable  annual  rental,  and  connecting  their  lines 
with  its  toll  system  at  some  mutually  convenient  point. 


This  plan  proved  successful,  but  left  the  problem  of 
rural  service  only  partially  settled. 

The  solution  seemed  impossible  on  any  reasonable 
economical  basis,  until,  after  much  thought  and  investi- 
gation, a  new  class  of  service  known  as  the  "  Farmers 
Line  Exchange  Service"  was  introduced.  Under  this 
plan'  the  Company  builds  and  equips  the  lines  and  fur- 
nishes service  through  its  own  exchanges,  the  stipulations 
being  that  there  must  be  two  subscribers  to  each  circuit 
mile,  and  that  the  line  shall  not  extend  more  than  six 
circuit-miles  from  the  exchange  centre  without  mileage 
charge. 


Electrical    Handbook  ijj 

Though  put  into  effect  only  a  few  months  since,  six 
thousand  contracts  have  already  been  taken  at  the 
new  rates,  and  the  demand  is  increasing. 

The  management  of  the  New  England  Telephone  and 
Telegraph  Company  has  always  been  conservative,  and 
it  has,  from  the  tirst,  been  its  policy  to  appropriate  from 
its  revenue  each  year  an  amount  sufficient  to  keep  the 
existing  property  in  effective  condition,  and  to  provide 
for  replacement  of  such  portions  of  the  plant  as  have 
become  unserviceable  by  reason  of  use  and  decay,  or 
destruction  by  storm,  or  which  have  become  obsolete  by 
the  introduction  of  new  and  better  forms  of  equipment. 
The  average  rates  of  depreciation  upon  the  various 
classes  of  property,  from  the  causes  first  named,  have 
now  become  quite  definitely  established,  and  as,  with 
successive  years,  the  property  investment  has  increased, 
the  cost  of  its  care  and  reconstruction  has  increased 
nearly  in  the  same  ratio. 

During  the  series  of  recent  years  the  annual  charge 
for  maintenance  of  the  plant,  not  including  new  con- 
struction, has  amounted  to  slightly  more  than  one-third 
of  the  gross  revenue  from  all  sources. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  present  year,  the  Company 
had  in  operation  three  hundred  and  eighty-two  exchanges. 

The  largest  exchange  of  the  Company  is  in  Boston,  a 
city  of  560,000  people.  At  the  close  of  1903,  the  ex- 
change stations  in  that  city  numbered  34,602.  In  some 
thirty  cities  and  towns  situated  within  a  radius  of  ten  or 
twelve  miles  from  the  centre  of  Boston,  constituting  a 
part  of  the  Boston  and  .Suburban  Division,  and  having 
an  aggregate  population  of  578,000,  there  were  18.955 
exchange  stations.  The  next  exchange  in  point  of  size 
is  that  in  Worcester,  Mass..  where,  in  a  population  of 
118,000,  there  are  somewhat  more  than  six  thousand 
subscribers.  Among  the  other  large  and  more  important 
of  the  Company's  exchanges  are  those  in  the  cities  of 
Fall  River,  Lawrence,  Lowell,  and  New  15edford.  Massa- 
chusetts: Lewiston.  Maine,  and  Manchester,  New  Hamp- 
shire, widely  known  for  their  textile  manufactories;  Lynn. 
Brockton,  and  Haverhill,  whose  principal  industry  is  the 


ij6  Electrical    Handbook 

manufacture  of  shoes ;  Springfield,  Holyoke,  and  Salem, 
Massachusetts;  Portland  and  Bangor,  Maine;  Rutland 
and  Burlington  in  Vermont. 

The  system  of  exchanges  and  toll  lines  of  the  Company 
has  now  grown  to  proportions  far  in  excess  of  what  any 
one  conversant  with  the  business,  even  ten  years  ago, 
would  have  ventured  to  predict.  So  extensive  has  been 
the  development,  that  there  is  no  town  of  considerable 
size  within  the  four  states  before  named,  in  which  the 
Company  has  not  an  exchange  in  operation,  and  but 
few  villages  or  small  centres  of  population  whose  resi- 
dents cannot  readily  place  themselves  in  communication, 
by  means  of  its  exchanges  and  toll  lines,  with  the  people 
of  the  neighboring  towns,  or  with  far  distant  places,  as 
their  business  or  convenience  requires;  while  the  con- 
nection with  the  longdistance  lines  of  the  American  Tele- 
phone and  Telegraph  Company  furnishes  the  means  of 
telephonic  communication  with  the  people  of  the  great 
West. 

The  Capital  Stock  of  the  New  Eng- 
land Telephone  and  Telegraph 
Company  is,  821,616,700 

For  several  years  past  dividends  have 
been  paid  at  the  rate  of  six  per  cent. 
For  the  year  1903  the  Gross  Revenue  was,  6,692,865 
The  expenses  were,  5.277,725 

Leaving  the  Net  Revenue  available  for  divi- 
dends, 1,415,140 
The  exchange  stations,  including  those  oper- 
ated by  sub-licenses,  numbered  at  the  end 
of  the  year,  136,089 
Private  Line  stations,  7,014 
The  mileage  of  exchange  wire  was,               220,749   miles 

"        "  "  toll  "        "  94,295      " 

Average  number   of   exchange   connections 

daily,  606,826 

Average  number  of  toll  connections  daily,     35,095 

It  is  estimated  that  about  twenty  thousand  exchange 
stations  will  be  added  to  the  above  number  during  the 
present  year. 


Harvard  University 

TX  the  fall  of  1636,  the  General  Court  of  the  Mas- 
sachusetts Bay  Colony  voted  four  hundred 
pounds  to  build  a  school  or  college.  The  vote 
was  approved  by  Henry  Vane,  then  governor  of 
the  Colony.  A  year  later,  the  Court  appointed  a  com- 
mission to  take  charge  of  the  matter.  Scarcely  had 
they  begun  the  work  of  organization  and  building, 
when  they  received  a  bequest  of  the  entire  library  and 
half  the  remaining  property  of  an  English  clergyman, 
John  Harvard,  who  had  died  in  Charlestown  (Boston) 
after  a  residence  in  the  Colony  of  about  a  year.  The 
new  school  was  therefore  named  Harvard  College,  and 
the  name  of  the  town  in  which  it  was  built  was  changed 
from  Xewtowne  to  Cambridge,  as  a  tribute  to  the  uni- 
versity where  many  of  the  colonists  had  been  educated. 
In  1650  the  General  Court  drew  up  for  the  College  the 
charter  under  which  it  is  still  governed.  This  docu- 
ment, which  established  the  oldest  corporation  in  the 
country,  now  hangs  in  the  librarian's  room  in  Gore 
Hall.  The  corporation  thus  established  consists  of  the 
President,  the  Treasurer,  and  five  Fellows.  They  fill 
vacancies  in  their  own  number,  and  make  all  laws, 
orders,  and  appointments,  subject  only  to  the  approval 
of  the  Board  of  Overseers.  This  body  is  a  descendant 
of  the  board  appointed  by  the  General  Court  before 
the  charter  of  1650.  Its  character  has  changed  some- 
what at  various  times.  It  now  consists  of  thirty  mem- 
bers, besides  the  president  and  treasurer,  five  of  whom 
are  elected  on  each  commencement  day  for  a  term  of 
six  years,  by  a  vote  of  Bachelors  of  Arts  of  five  years' 
standing. 

In  1642  the  first  class  was  graduated,  nine  in  number. 
In   June,    1904,   the    Bachelor's   degree   was   conferred 

157 


Electrical    Handbook 

on  some  five  hundred  candidates  in  Arts  and  Sciences; 
and,  all  told,  there  were  nearly  i,ioo  degrees  conferred. 
In  1652,  the  senior  class  consisted  of  one  man,  and  the 
whole  college  had,  perhaps,  twenty  students.  In  the 
year  1903-4  there  were  more  than  five  thousand  stu- 
dents enrolled  in  all  departments  of  the  University. 
The  original  building,  which  lasted  less  than  forty 
years,  has  been  succeeded  by  an  equipment  covering 
in  all,  some  five  hundred  acres  of  ground.  In  1780, 
the  Massachusetts  Constitution  referred  to  Harvard  as 
a  University.  Up  to  1783,  when  medical  lectures  were 
first  given,  it  was  properly  called  Harvard  College. 
Now  the  College  is  but  one,  though  an  extremely  im- 
portant one,  of  the  sixteen  departments  of  the  Uni- 
versity. 

DEPARTMENTS   OF   INSTRUCTION 

There  arc  nine  departments  of  instruction:  Harvard 
College,  the  Graduate  School,  the  Lawrence  Scientific 
School,  the  Summer  School,  the  Divinity  School,  the 
Law  School,  the  Medical  School,  the  Dental  School, 
and  the  Bussey  Institution  (the  Agricultural  and  Hor- 
ticultural department). 

The  administration  of  these  nine  schools  is  com- 
mitted to  four  Faculties:  the  Faculty  of  Arts  and  Sci- 
ences, the  Faculty  of  Divinity,  the  Faculty  of  Law,  and 
the  Faculty  of  Medicine. 

University  Expenses.  The  total  University  expenses 
for  the  year  1902-3,  excluding  new  buildings,  amounted 
to  $1,600,000,  and  the  receipts  from  student  fees  about 
$720,000,  or  less  than  one-half  of  the  expenditures.  The 
invested  funds  amount  to  about  $16,000,000,  excluding 
University  grounds  and  buildings. 

FACULTY   OF  ARTS  AND   SCIENCES 

Harvard  College,  the  Lawrence  Scientific  School,  and 
the  Graduate  School,  are  under  the  administration  of 
the  Faculty  of  Arts  and  Sciences,  numbering  132,  (in 
1902-03,  excluding   other  instructors   and    assistants). 


Electrical    Handbook  i^g 

The  Summer  School  of  Arts  and  Sciences  is  also  in 
charge    of    a    committee    of   this    Faculty. 

Admission  Examinations.  Admission  to  the  College 
and  Scientific  School  is  by  examination,  according  to 
a  system  devised  to  give  the  candidate  all  desirable 
freedom  in  the  choice  of  studies  he  offers  and  to  re- 
quire of  the  candidates  the  same  amount  of  prepara- 
tory work.  In  general,  entrance  examinations  aim  to 
bring  out  what  a  candidate  is  qualified  to  do  rather 
than  what  he  has  already  done.  These  examinations 
are  held  in  June  and  September  in  forty  cities  of  the 
United  States,  in  Germany,  Hawaii,  and  Japan. 

In  1902-3,  the  Faculty  of  Arts  and  Sciences  pro- 
vided 240  whole  courses  and  214  half  courses  of  instruc- 
tion in  various  fields.  A  course  represents  ordinarily 
three  hours  a  week  in  the  class  or  lecture  room,  and 
Tom  three  to  eight  hours  a  week  of  work  outside  the 
class  room.  Where  a  course  includes  work  in  a  lab- 
oratory, three  hours  of  such  work  is  usually  counted 
as  the  equivalent  of  one  lecture  and  the  outside  study 
connected  therewith.  The  method  of  instruction  is 
largely  by  lectures,  supplemented  in  most  cases  by 
theses  and  reports,  by  recitations,  conferences,  "quiz- 
zes," problems,  laboratory  work,  field  work,  —  as  the 
subject  demands. 

The  courses  of  instruction  in  any  one  field  are  in  the 
immediate  charge  of  a  Division  Committee. 

Six  of  these  Divisions  are  so  large  as  to  require  sub- 
divisions into  De])artments. 

The  students  registered  in  the  three  schools  admin- 
istered by  this  faculty  share  for  the  most  part  freely  in 
the  instruction  ofTered  by  any  of  its  Divisions,  insofar 
as  they  are  qualified  therefor;  and  in  many  courses  may 
be  found  College,  Scientific  School,  and  Graduate 
School  students  working  side  by  side  on  equal  terms. 
In  the  advanced  courses,  the  students  of  the  Graduate 
School  predominate,  while  in  the  elementary  courses 
the  College  and  Scientific  School  students  are  more  in 
evidence. 

A  student   registered   in   the   College   usually  has  as 


i6o  The    Boston 

his  objective  a  general  education,  is  free  to  choose  his 
courses,  and  receives  the  degree  of  A.B.  after  the  sat- 
isfactory completion  of  172  of  these  courses.  This 
usually  occupies  four  years,  although  a  steadily  increas- 
ing number  satisfy  the  requirements  in  three  years. 
The  number  of  students  registered  in  the  College  dur- 
ing 1902-03  was  2,109. 

A  student  registered  in  the  Lawrence  Scientific 
School  has  usually  some  definite  scientific  or  technical 
objective,  and  selects  one  of  a  number  of  prescribed 
4-year  programmes  of  study,  in  each  of  which  are  laid 
down  the  courses  required  for  the  degree  of  S.B.  in  the 
chosen  field.  The  number  of  courses  required  in  the 
several  programmes  varies  from  20  to  23.  This  re- 
quires four  years  of  substantial  work.  The  number  of 
students  registered  in  the  Scientific  School  was  548  in 
1903-04,  distributed  among  the  several  programmes  as 
follows:  —  Civil  Engineering,  72;  Mechanical  Engi- 
neering, 56;  Electrical  Engineering,  74;  Mining  and 
Metallurgy,  68;  Architecture,  40;  Landscape  Archi- 
tecture, 16;  Forestry,  7;  Chemistry,  23;  Geology,  4; 
Biology,  14;  Anatomy  and  Physiology,  35;  for  Teach- 
ers of  Science,  13;  General  Science,  126. 

Work  in  the  Graduate  School  leads  to  the  degree  of 
Master  of  Arts,  Master  of  Science,  Doctor  of  Philos- 
ophy and  Doctor  of  Science.  A  Bachelor's  degree  is 
required  for  admission.  The  Master's  degree  requires 
the  completion  with  high  grades  of  four  courses,  ordi- 
narily a  year's  work.  The  Doctor's  degree  requires  in 
most  departments  at  least  one  year's  residence,  a  thor- 
ough knowledge  of  the  entire  subject  and  minute  prep- 
aration in  .some  special  field  of  the  subject.  The  re- 
sults of  investigation  in  the  special  field  must  be  set 
forth  in  a  thesis.  The  number  of  students  enrolled  in 
the  Graduate  School  in  1902-03  was  325.  They  rep- 
resented more  than  no  colleges. 


Electrical    Handbook 


i6i 


ENGINEERING 

The  Lawrence  Scientific  School,  founded  in  1847, 
was  intended  by  its  chief  benefactor,  the  Hon.  Abbott 
Lawrence,  to  be  a  school  of  applied  science,  and  as 
such  was  the  second  in  America;  but  although  instruc- 
tion in  Engineering  was  begun  in  1850,  the  energies  of 
the  school  were  directed  towards  pure  science.  Here, 
in    1848,    Louis    Agassiz    introduced    the    laboratory 


^..^ 


Engineering   Laljoratories,   Harvard 


method  of  teaching  science;  here  also  taught  such  men 
as  Ik'HJamin  Peirce,  Asa  Gray,  Eben  Horsford,  Jeffries 
Wyman  and  Josiah  Cooke.  On  this  foundation  many 
of  the  now  independent  scientific  establishments  of 
the  university  had  their  beginnings;  but  for  almost 
forty  years  the  technical  instruction  was  confined  to 
Civil  Engineering  in  its  narrower  sense. 

The  real  development  of  instruction  in  Engineering 
began  about  1890,  when  the  Lawrence  Scientific  School, 
the  Graduate  School  and  the  College  were  merged 
under  the  Faculty  of  Arts  and  Sciences.     In   1888-89 


i62  The    Boston 

a  four-year  programme  in  Electrical  Engineering  was 
established,  in  1893-94  one  in  Mechanical  Engineer- 
ing, in  1894-95  one  each  in  Mining  and  Architecture, 
in  1900-01  one  in  Landscape  Architecture,  and  in 
1903-04  one  in  Forestry. 

These  Departments  are  now  all  commodiously  housed 
in  Pierce  Hall,  the  Rotch  Building,  and  Robinson  Hall. 
In  addition  to  these  buildings  are  the  Chemical  Labo- 
ratory (Boylston  Hall),  the  Jefferson  Physical  Labora- 
tory, and  the  Laboratories  of  the  University  Museum, 
instruction  in  all  of  which  is  regularly  given  to  students 
of  Engineering.  The  electrical  engineering  students  re- 
ceive not  only  their  instruction  in  general  physics  but 
also  that  in  electrical  measurements  and  in  the  theory 
of  electricity,  from  the  Division  of  Physics  in  the  Jef- 
ferson Laboratory,  the  relations  between  this  Division 
and  the  Department  of  Electrical  Engineering  being 
very  close. 

The  most  distinguishing  characteristic  of  technical 
instruction  at  Harvard  is  its  close  affiliation  with  the 
other  arts  and  sciences;  for  not  only  do  students  reg- 
istered in  the  Scientific  School,  and  following  a  four 
years'  programme  in  engineering,  partake  of  the  in- 
struction offered  by  other  Divisions,  but  College  and 
Graduate-School  students  elect  and  count  for  their 
degrees,  courses  offered  by  the  Division  of  Engineer- 
ing. In  this  latter  custom  the  University  expresses  its 
belief  in  the  educational  value  of  most  of  the  engineer- 
ing courses.  In  many  of  these  courses,  25  or  30  per 
cent  of  the  students  enrolled  are  from  the  College  and 
Graduate  School.  The  only  difference  between  the 
student  registered  in  the  Lawrence  Scientific  School 
(for  example,  an  engineering  student)  and  one  reg- 
istered in  the  College,  is  in  the  manner  of  selecting 
his  courses;  the  former  elects  a  programme  of  study 
chosen  by  the  Division  concerned,  as  requisite  to  a 
systematic  training  in  that  field  {e.g.,  civil  engineer- 
ing), while  the  latter  elects  each  course  separately. 

This  close  affiliation  is  considered  of  great  value  to 
the  students  of  both  schools.     To  the  engineering  stu- 


Electrical    II  a  n  u  b  o  o  k  i6  j 


i6^  The    Boston 

dent  it  gives  a  breadth  of  view  and  wealth  of  interest 
quite  unusual  in  technical  schools,  and  to  the  college 
or  graduate  student  it  often  brings  the  opportunity 
which  turns  him  towards  engineering  as  a  profession. 

The  McKay  bequest  of  about  five  million  dollars,  for 
Applied  Science  (especially  for  mechanical  engineer- 
ing), will  become  available  in  five  or  six  years,  and 
will  place  technical  instruction  at  Harvard  on  an  en- 
larged foundation. 

PROFESSIONAL   SCHOOLS 

The  Harvard  Law  School  was  established  in  1817. 
At  that  time  it  was  the  only  school  of  the  sort  in  the 
country  in  close  connection  with  a  college.  In  1883 
Austin  Hall,  the  present  Law  School,  was  finished  and 
occupied.  Professor  C.  C.  Langdell,  while  Dean  of 
the  Law  School,  practically  reorganized  it  and  gave  it 
its  present  high  standard.  This  he  accomplished  by 
introducing  a  system  of  thorough  examinations,  by 
originating  and  using  the  "case  system"  of  instruction, 
and  finally  by  making  the  holding  of  a  college  degree 
a  requirement  for  admission.  The  School  has  now  in 
the  neighborhood  of  750  students. 

The  original  purpose  of  Harvard  College  was  avow- 
edly to  train  up  a  learned  clergy  for  the  new  country. 
Five  of  the  nine  graduates  in  1642  went  into  the  min- 
istry, as  did  a  large  part  of  each  succeeding  class  for 
many  years.  In  June,  1904,  there  were  seven  graduates 
in  theology  as  against  five  hundred  in  arts  and  sci- 
ences. The  Divinity  School  is  non-sectarian;  it  could 
not  be  otherwise  in  a  university  which  supports  an 
institution  like  Phillips  Brooks  House,  where  active 
and  strong  student  religious  organizations  of  all  sects 
and  creeds  live  and  work  together.  Students  of  all 
denominations,  too,  voluntarily  attend  daily  prayers 
in  Appleton  Chapel. 

There  are  four  schools  in  the  university  that  take 
little  or  no  part  in  the  social  life  of  the  students  in 
Cambridge.     The  Harvard  Medical  School  is  situated 


Electrical    Handbook  i6j 

on  Boylston  Street  in  Boston,  three  miles  from  Harvard 
College,  in  order  that  it  may  secure  the  clinical  ad- 
vantages offered  by  a  large  city.  The  students  visit 
the  various  hospitals  daily,  and  some  fifty  of  the  stu- 
dents a  year  are  drawn  into  their  service.  The  stand- 
ard of  the  school  is  high,  a  Bachelor's  degree  is  re- 
quired for  admission,  its  examinations  are  severe,  and 
its  facilities  of  all  kinds  are  great.  It  employs  2)3  pro- 
fessors and  assistant-professors,  and  iii  other  instruc- 
tors. It  has  between  450  and  500  students.  It  is  the 
oldest  professional  school  of  the  university.  Recent 
gifts  of  something  over  two  and  a  quarter  million  dol- 
lars have  enabled  the  Medical  School  to  begin  the 
erection  of  five  new  buildings  on  the  corner  of  Hunt- 
ington and  Longwnod  Avenues,  in  Brookline,  a  suburb 
of  Boston  about  five  miles  from  Cambridge. 

The  Dental  School  is  also  situated  in  Boston.  It  is 
now  on  North  Gn)ve  Street,  but  it  will  probably  have 
accommodations,  m  the  course  of  time,  on  the  site  of 
the  new  Medical  School  buildings.  The  requirements 
for  admission  are  lower  than  those  for  admission  to 
the  College,  but  they  are  gradually  being  brought  up 
to  the  College  standard.  The  programme  covers  three 
years,  the  first  year  of  which  is  nearly  identical  with 
that  of  the  Medical  School. 

There  is  also  a  School  of  Agriculture  and  Horticul- 
ture, called  the  Bussey  Institution,  after  its  principal 
benefactor,  and  designed  to  furnish  instruction  in 
scientific  agriculture. 

SUMMER   SCHOOL 

During  the  long  vacation  in  the  summer,  a  number 
of  short  courses  are  given  in  Cambridge  under  the 
direction  of  a  Committee  of  the  Faculty  of  Arts  and 
Sciences.  These  courses,  which  cover  a  wide  variety 
of  the  subjects  regularly  taught  in  the  College,  Scien- 
tific School,  and  Graduate  School,  are  designed  for 
teachers,  and  are  open  to  all  qualified  men  and  women 
without  formal  examination.     Some  may  be  taken  in- 


i66 


The    B  0  s  t  0  n 


stead  of  the  corresponding  courses  in  the  College  or 
Scientific  School,  and  count  towards  the  Bachelor's 
degree.  The  courses  meet  five  times  a  week  for  six 
weeks,  and  each  aims  to  occupy  all  the  student's  work- 
ing time,  though  there  are  a  few  combinations  of  two 
courses  that  may  profitably  be  taken  together. 

The  number  of  students  enrolled  during  the  summer 
of  1903  was  1,186,  exclusive  of  the  members  of  the 
Summer  Schools  of  Theology  and  of  Medicine. 


The   Library,   Harvard 


THE   LIBRARY 

This  is  located  in  Gore  Hall,  includes  over  400,000, 
volumes,  and  is  open  during  term-time  every  week, 
day  from  9  a.m.  to  10  p.m.,  and  Sundays  from  i  to 
5.30  P.M.  In  addition  to  this  main  library,  there  are 
ten  departmental  and  twenty-eight  reference  libraries, 
with  collections  numbering  all  together  over  200,000 
volumes.  The  total  is  thus  more  than  600,000  vol- 
umes. 

THE   ASTRONOMICAL  OBSERVATORY 

The  Astronomical  Observatory  is  situated  in  Cam- 
bridge, on  the  corner  of  Concord  Avenue  and  Bond 
Street.  The  annual  income  used  exclusively  for  re- 
search is  about  $50,000.     The  investigations  thus  far 


Electrical    Handbook  i6y 

completed  fill  fifty  quarto  volumes  of  annals,  and  the 
distinguished  work  here  carried  on  has  probably  done 
more  to  give  the   University  an  international   reputa- 
tion than  any  other  single  portion  of  its  rich  contribu 
tions  to  science. 

This  observatory  and  that  at  Kiel,  Germany,  have 
been  selected  by  international  agreement  as  centres 
for  prompt  distribution  of  astronomical  discoveries. 

Besides  the  station  at  Cambridge,  the  Observatory 
maintains  a  very  important  observing  station  near 
Arequipa,  Peru,  and  a  series  of  meteorological  stations, 
crossing  the  Andes. 

UNIVERSITY   MUSEUM 

The  University  Museum  is  commonly  called  the 
Agassiz  Museum,  a  title  which  is  no  more  than  a  just 
recognition  of  the  services  of  Louis  and  Alexander 
Agassiz.  The  north  wing  of  the  building  contains  the 
Museum  of  Comparative  Zoology,  the  Mineralogical 
and  Botanical  Museums  are  in  the  centre,  the  Geolog- 
ical Museum,  and  the  Peabody  Museum  of  American 
.Archaeology  and  Ethnology,  are  in  the  south  wing. 
There  are  many  exhibition  rooms  constantly  open  to 
the  public.  The  Ware  Collection  of  Blaschka  Glass 
Models  of  Plants  and  Flowers  has  proved  particularly 
attractive  to  visitors.  It  consists  of  some  seven  hun- 
dred models  and  three  thousand  sections  made  from 
study  of  the  living  specimens  of  a  wide  variety  of  plants. 
The  models  are  made  of  glass  colored  by  mineral 
pigments,  imitating  with  striking  accuracy  every  visible- 
characteristic  of  the  plants  themselves.  They  are  the 
artistic  handiwork  of  Leopold  (deceased)  and  Rudol{)h 
Blaschka  of  Germany.  When  the  latter  dies,  the  .se- 
crets of  this  art  will  ])robably  die  with  him. 

The  Botanic  Garden.  The  Botanic  Garden,  situ- 
ated at  the  corner  of  Garden  and  Linnjuan  Streets, 
Cambridge,  and  covering  seven  acres,  was  established 
at  the  beginning  of  the  last  century,  and  was  made 
famous  by  the  work  of  the  late  Professor  Asa  Gray. 


i68 


The    Boston 


The  Gray  Herbarium,  located  in  the  Botanic  Gar- 
den, is  a  collection  of  350,000  sheets  of  mounted  speci- 
mens, founded  and  largely  developed  by  the  untiring 
energy  of  Professor  Gray.  The  Arnold  Arboretum,  a 
living  museum  of  trees  and  shrubs,  occupies  220  acres 
of  land  in  Jamaica  Plain,  about  six  miles  from  Cam- 
bridge. It  is  traversed  by  about  four  miles  of  park 
roads,  and  is  open  to  the  public  every  day  in  the  year 
from  sunrise  to  sunset. 


The  College  Yard,   Harvard 


GROUNDS    AND  BUILDINGS 

The  term  "College  Yard"  has  been  applied  since 
the  earliest  records  to  the  main  quadrangle  enclosed 
by  the  College  buildings.  It  vi^as  originally  the  plot 
between  Harvard  and  Massachusetts  Halls,  but  now 
properly  includes  the  two  main  quadrangles,  though 
the  term  is  often  restricted  to  the  western,  and  older, 
of  the  two. 

The  oldest  of  the  buildings  now  standing  in  the  Yard 
is  Massachusetts  Hall,  which  was  finished  in  1720,  and 

Note.  —  When  the  location  of  a  building  is  omitted,  it  may  readily  be 
found  on  the  accompanying  map  ;  from  which  may  also  be  obtained  a  rough 
estimate  of  the  size  of  each  building. 


Electrical    Handbook  i6g 

has  not  since  been  changed  in  outward  appearance. 
Harvard  Hail,  which  faces  it,  was  buiit  in  1766  to  take 
the  place  of  the  older  hall  of  the  same  name,  which 
was  destroyed  by  fire  on  the  site  of  the  present  build- 
ing in  1764.  It  is  now  devoted  to  lecture  rooms  and 
department  libraries.  The  Colonial  buildings  in  the 
order  of  their  age  are  Massachusetts  Hall,  Wadsworth 
House  (for  many  years  the  President's  house),  Holden 
Chapel,  and  HoUis  Hall.  Massachusetts  Hall  was 
then  a  dormitory.  Holden  Chapel  was  given  by  the 
wife  and  daughter  of  Samuel  Holden,  M.P.,  himself  a 
liberal  benefactor  of  Harvard.  It  was  the  first  build- 
ing to  take  its  name  from  an  English  benefactor.  Hol- 
lis  Hall  is  named  for  Thomas  Hollis,  an  English  mer- 
chant, who,  though  a  Baptist,  gave  sums,  then  con- 
sidered vast,  to  a  college  that  dismissed  its  first  presi- 
dent because  he  objected  to  the  baptism  of  infants. 
Holworthy  Hall  was  named  for  Sir  Matthew  Hol- 
worthy,  who  in  1678  left  the  College  a  thousand  pounds. 
Stoughton  and  Holworthy  Halls,  both  dormitories, 
were  built  in  1804  and  181 2,  respectively,  and  Univer- 
sity Hall,  now  the  Administration  Building,  immedi- 
ately followed  Holworthy.  The  other  buildings  in  the 
old  quadrangle  are  Thayer,  Weld,  Grays  and  Mat- 
thews Halls,  all  dormitories.  Dane  Hall  —  the  first 
home  of  the  Law  School,  is  now  occupied  by  the  Bursar 
and  the  Harvard  Co-operative  Society.  Boylston  Hall 
is  the  Chemical  Laboratory.  Here  is  given  all  the  in- 
struction in  Chemistry  under  the  Faculty  of  Arts  and 
Sciences.  It  accommodates  about  600  students,  and 
contains  a  Department  library  of  1,600  volumes.  Sever 
Hall,  on  the  eastern  side  of  the  new  quadrangle,  is  the 
largest  building  devoted  entirely  to  lecture  and  class 
rooms.  In  Appleton  Chapel  are  held  during  term- 
time,  daily  morning  prayers,  Sunday  evening  services, 
and  vesper  services  Thursday  afternoons  during  the 
winter  months,  attendance  at  all  of  which  is  voluntary. 
These  services  are  conducted  by  a  board  of  five  preach- 
ers of  various  denominations,  and  the  Plummer  Pro- 
fessor of  Christian  Morals. 


IJO 


The    B  0  sto  n 


Phillips  Brooks  House,  situated  in  the  northwest  cor- 
ner of  the  Yard,  was  built  by  subscription  in  memory  of 
Phillips  Brooks,  of  the  class  of  1855,  Preacher  to  the 
University,  Overseer,  and  Protestant  Episcopal  Bishop 
of  Massachusetts.  This  building  is  the  home  of  the 
various  student  religious  societies  of  whatever  denomi- 
nation. It  contains  a  large  and  very  attractive  recep- 
tion room,  where  are  held  the  weekly  receptions  given 
by  the  members  of  the  Faculty  and  their  wives  to  the 
students. 


Memorial   Hall.   Harvard 


The  William  Hayes  Fogg  Art  Museum  was  erected 
in  1895,  at  a  cost  of  $170,000.  It  has  an  endowment 
of  $50,000.  Nelson  Robinson,  Jr.,  Hall,  the  Architec- 
ture Building,  was  erected  in  1900-01  at  a  cost  of  about 
$150,000.  It  has  an  endowment  of  about  $250,000, 
and  is  one  of  the  most  thoroughly  equipped  buildings 
in  the  University. 

By  far  the  most  noteworthy  building  outside  the 
Yard  is  Memorial  Hall,  which  stands  on  the  delta  be- 


Electrical    Handbook 


171 


tween  Cambridge,  Kirkland,  and  Quincy  Streets.  It 
was  built  mainly  by  subscriptions  from  graduates,  as  a 
memorial  to  the  Harvard  men  who  fought  and  fell  in 
the  Civil  War.  The  Corporation,  in  accepting  it  from 
the  graduates,  called  it  "the  most  valuable  gift  the  Uni- 
versity has  ever  received,  in  respect  alike  to  cost,  daily 
usefulness,  and  moral  significance."     The  western  end 


Physical   Laboratory,   Harvard 


of  the  hall  is  the  one  which  is  literally  in  daily  use;  it 
serves  as  a  dining  hall  for  some  twelve  hundred  of  the 
.students.  The  eastern  end,  called  Sanders  Theatre,  is 
the  official  as.sembly  hall  for  all  public,  and  many  pri- 
vate academic  ceremonies.  The  building  is  rich  in 
memorial  windows. 

Randall  Hall,  built  in  1898  gy  at  a  cost  of  Si 00,000, 
is  another  dining  hall,  and  accommodates  about  1,200 
students  on  the  d  la  carte  plan  at  a  very  reasonable 
price. 

The   Hemenway  Gymnasium,  with   a   ground   plan 


1^2  The    Boston 

area  of  15,000  square  feet,  and  a  larj^e  and  varied  equip- 
ment, accommodates  about  2,500  students. 

The  Jefferson  Physical  Laboratory  accommodates 
all  the  University  work  in  Physics.  It  is  60  by  200  feet, 
four  stories  high,  well  equipped  and  commodious.  A 
research  endowment  of  $60,000  is  well  employed  in 
connection  with  numerous  investigations. 

Pierce  Hall,  built  in  1901  at  a  cost  of  over  $200,000, 
for  the  Division  of  Engineering,  contains  laboratories, 
draughting-rooms,  lecture-rooms,  offices,  repair-shop, 
power-plant,  and  an  Engineering  Library  of  more  than 
6,000  volumes. 

The  Rotch  Building  is  the  old  Carey  Building  for 
athletics,  remodelled  and  enlarged  for  the  Department 
of  Mining  and  Metallurgy.  It  contains  metallurgical, 
ore  dressing,  and  assay  laboratories. 

The  Astronomical  Laboratory,  housed  in  a  frame 
building  adjacent  to  the  Rotch  Building,  is  entirely  in- 
dependent of  the  Astronomical  Observatory,  and  is 
intended  entirely  for  instruction,  whereas  the  Observa- 
tory is  employed  entirely  for  research. 

The  Germanic  Museum,  for  the  most  part  the  gift 
of  Emperor  William  II,  is  temporarily  housed  in  the 
Rogers  building. 

The  Semitic  Museum  was  finished  in  1902,  at  a  cost 
of  about  $50,000. 

The  Stillman  Infirmary  is  a  University  hospital, 
beautifully  located  and  with  the  most  approved  ap- 
pointment. Here  students  and  officers  are  cared  for 
at  a  moderate  price. 

STUDENT   LIFE 

The  number  of  students  who  live  in  Cambridge  has 
increased  so  rapidly  of  late  that  the  University  no  longer 
attempts  to  feed  and  house  all  of  them.  Memorial 
and  Randall  Halls,  conducted  by  student  associations, 
supply  with  food  about  half  of  them.  The  others 
patronize  restaurants  and  boarding  houses,  or  avail 
themselves   of   their   club   privileges  —  now   and   then 


Electrical    Handbook  //J 

one  finds  a  student  preparing  his  food  over  a  spirit- 
lamp  in  his  room.  At  the  private  boarding  houses  as, 
at  Alemorial  Hall,  groups  of  men  usually  form  club 
tables.  The  price  of  board  at  Memorial  Hall  is  about 
four  dollars  per  week,  at  Randall  Hall  somewhat  less, 
and  at  boarding  houses  and  clubs  usually  more. 

About  one-half  of  the  students  room  in  the  College 
dormitories.  Many  find  quarters  in  private  houses. 
Others,  whose  homes  are  near  at  hand,  live  at  home, 
and  a  still  larger  number  live  in  private  dormitories. 
Some  of  these  provide  quarters  neither  essentially  bet- 
ter nor  worse  than  are  provided  in  the  buildings  owned 
by  the  College.  In  recent  years,  however,  the  enter- 
prise of  capitalists  has  provided  very  luxurious  quarters 
for  the  richer  students.  Most  of  these  are  to  the  south 
of  the  College  Yard,  on  Mt.  Auburn  Street. 

The  various  athletic  sports  are  sustained  by  elab- 
orate organizations  among  the  students,  and  are  regu- 
lated by  a  committee  compo.sed  of  officers  of  the  Uni- 
versity, graduates  and  undergraduates. 

Soldiers  Field,  the  principal  college  playground, 
covering  20  acres,  was  given  to  the  University  by 
Henry  Lee  Higginson,  one  of  her  chief  benefactors. 
On  the  field  are  the  locker  building,  the  base-ball  cage, 
the  base-ball  diamond,  cricket  crease,  fields  for  lacrosse 
and  other  sports.  The  football  field  and  the  cinder 
track  are  now  within  the  enormous  Stadium. 

The  Stadium  comes  to  the  University  through  the 
generosity  of  the  Class  of  1879,  and  was  made  possible 
by  the  skill  and  patience  of  Professors  Hollis  and  John- 
.son,  of  the  Division  of  Engineering.  It  is  a  steel  and 
concrete  grand-stand,  U-shaped  in  plan,  to  accommo- 
date some  23,000  spectators  at  football  and  other 
games  on  Soldiers  Field.  It  can  be  made  to  hold 
38,000  persons  with  the  aid  of  temporary  structures. 
It  is  intended  to  furnish  an  economical,  fireproof  and 
architecturally  pleasing  structure  in  ])lace  of  the  short- 
lived, dangerous,  and  unsightly  wooden  grand-stands 
hitherto  in  use. 

The  developed  length  of  the  U  at  the  outside  row  is 


174 


T  h  e    Boston 


1,390  feet,  and  the  uniform  width  across  from  front  to 
back  of  each  wing  of  the  U  is  98  feet.  The  area  actu- 
ally under  cover  is  some  120,000  square  feet.  The 
over-all  length  of  the  Stadium  is  575  feet,  and  the  width 
is  420  feet,  both  exclusive  of  some  minor  details. 

By  way  of  comparison,  it  may  be  stated  that  the  cor- 
responding dimensions  of  the  Coliseum  at  Rome  are 
616  feet  and  510  feet,  but  the  Coliseum  had  a  much 
greater  seating  capacity  than  has  the  Stadium,  owing 
partly  to  the  fact  that  in  the  Coliseum  both  ends  were 


The   Harvard  Stadium 


closed  and  used  for  seats,  and  a  much  smaller  space 
was  reserved  for  the  arena. 

The  highest  part  of  the  Stadium  now  finished  is 
about  53  feet  above  the  ground,  but  after  the  upper 
promenade  is  roofed  in,  the  final  height  of  the  structure 
will  be  71  feet. 

In  June,  1904,  Class  Day  exercises  were  for  the  first 
time  held  in  the  circular  end  of  the  Stadium,  and 
proved  a  marked  success. 

Rovv'ing  is  perhaps  the  oldest  of  the  athletic  sports 
at  Cambridge.  It  began  about  1844.  Early  in  the 
spring  there  are  many  races  between  the  class  crews, 
and  the  various  crews  of  the  two  boat  clubs.  From 
the  best  of  the  oarsmen  developed  in  these  races  the 


Electrical    Handbook  lyj 

University  crew  is  finally  selected.  The  crews,  and  all 
who  wish  to  row  for  pleasure,  are  accommodated  in 
the  two  boat  houses,  the  Weld  and  the  Xewell  Clubs 
on  opposite  sides  of  the  river  near  Soldiers  Field. 

Football  was  played  on  the  Delta  long  before  the 
Civil  War.  The  series  of  games  with  Yale  began  in 
1875,  and  with  perhaps  but  one  real  interruption 
(1894-97),  has  been  played  regularly  ever  since.  The 
annual  Harvard-Yale  game  draws  a  larger  audience 
than  does  any  other  athletic  contest,  the  attendance  at 
the  last  such  game  being  nearly  40,000. 

Base-ball  began  at  Harvard  in  1862,  and  the  series 
of  games  with  Yale  in  1868.  In  this  field  Harvard 
has  been  very  successful,  as  also  in  track  athletics. 
At  tennis,  too,  Harvard  has  turned  out  players  of 
national  reputation.  All  of  Jarvis  Field  and  a  part  of 
Holmes  Field  are  now  given  over  to  tennis  courts 
which  are  in  constant  use  all  through  the  season. 
There  are  active  organizations  and  teams  for  playing 
golf,  lacrosse,  cricket,  and  hockey,  and  there  are  also 
fencing  and  shooting  clubs.  The  Hemenway  Gymna- 
sium is  uncomfortably  crowded  every  afternoon  during 
the  time  when  outdoor  sports  are  not  in  season. 

Student  Publications.  The  undergraduate  publica- 
tions are  now  six  in  number.  The  Harvard  Crimson 
is  the  college  daily  newspaper.  The  Lampoon,  an  illus- 
trated comic  paper,  and  The  Advocate,  a  literary  maga- 
zine, the  oldest  of  the  si.x,  are  published  fortnightly. 
The  Monthly,  also  literary,  and  the  Harvard  Illus- 
trated Magazine  are  published  once  a  month.  The 
Harvard  Engineering  Journal  is  issued  quarterly.  The 
editorial  boards  of  all  these  are  self-perpetuating 
bodies  who.se  records  bear  many  well-known  names. 

The  list  of  clubs  other  than  athletic  is  a  long  one;  it 
would  iiu'iuile  more  than  a  hundred  organizations  of 
various  kinds,  the  history  and  description  of  which 
would  make  an  interesting  chapter.  They  manage  the 
dining  halls,  and  the  C()-()])erative  store,  they  are  active 
in  religious  and  j)olitical  work,  they  promote  Harvard 
interest  in  different  sections  of  the  country,  they  carry 


//^  The   Boston 

on  educational  work  of  all  kinds,  they  devote  them- 
selves to  music,  chess,  vi'hist,  and  photography.  The 
most  interesting  clubs,  however,  are  the  more  purely 
social  ones.  One  of  the  newer  ones,  but  now  the 
most  important,  is  the  Harvard  Union,  originally  a 
debating  club,  which  successfully  carried  out  its  pur- 
pose to  form  the  nucleus  of  a  University  Club  like  the 
Unions  at  Oxford  and  Cambridge.  Major  Henry  L. 
Higginson  gave  the  building;  other  graduates  con- 
tributed generously  in  money  and  effort.  The  Union 
is  now  a  handsome,  commodious,  and  well  equipped 
club,  membership  in  which  is  open  to  all  past  and 
present  members  of  the  University  at  very  moderate 
cost. 

The  Hasty  Pudding  Club,  probably  the  best  known 
college  club  in  the  country,  dates  from  1795.  Its  mem- 
bers originally  met  in  each  others  rooms  to  read  papers 
and  eat  hasty  pudding.  They  still  eat  the  pudding 
and  preserve  other  traditions,  but  the  literary  tradition 
is  almost  entirely  lost.  There  are  many  Greek  letter 
and  other  societies  varying  greatly  in  character,  many 
of  them  wealthy,  with  luxurious  quarters. 

There  is  a  flourishing  Engineering  Society,  with 
branches  in  civil,  electrical,  mechanical,  and  mining 
engineering. 

Of  the  student  body  as  a  whole  there  is  little  to  be 
said.  It  represents  all  but  a  very  few  elements  of 
American  citizenship,  with  a  considerable  foreign  ad- 
mixture. One  never  sees  the  whole  of  it  at  once;  but 
at  the  great  athletic  exhibitions  and  on  a  few  occasions 
of  special  academic  interest,  one  may  get  a  fair  idea  of 
what  the  whole  would  be  like. 


Electrical    Hatidbook 


n7 


Harvard  University 

A. 

Austin  Hall,  Law  School, 

Bks. 

Phillips  Brooks  House, 

1883. 

1898. 

A.  C. 

Appleton  Chapel,  1858. 

C. 

College  House,  1832. 

A.  I). 

A.  13.  Club  House. 

Coop. 

Harvard  Cooperative  Soc 

A.A.*. 

Alpha  Delta  I'hi  Club 

Cr. 

Craigie  Hall,  1897. 

House. 

Ct. 

Conant  Hall,  1894. 

A.  L. 

Students'  Astronomical 

Cv. 

Claverly  Hall,  1893. 

Laboratory,  1901. 

D. 

Divinity  Hall,  1826. 

A  p. 

Apley  Court,  1897. 

Da. 

Dane  Hall,  1832. 

U. 

lioylston  Hall,  1S57. 

Dana. 

Dana  Chamliers,  1897. 

Be. 

Ileck  Hall,  1876. 

Di. 

Ditjaninia  Club. 

/7c? 


The    Boston 


Dr.  Dunster  Hall,  1897.  P.  M. 

Dray.  Drayton  Hall,  1902.  Pierce. 

D.  L.  Divinity  Library,  1822.  P'c'l'n. 

A.*.  Delta  Phi  Club  House.  *.  A.*. 

Ev.  Everett  Hall,  1900.  Pt. 

F.  Foxcroft  House,  1888.  Q'cy. 

Fair.  Fairfax  Hall.  R. 

F.  H.  Felton  Hall,  1877.  R.  D. 
F. M.A.Fogg  Museum  of  Art,  Ran. 

1895.  R'd. 

G.  Grays  Hall,  1863.  Rob. 
Gnt.  Gannett  House.  Rotcli. 
Gy.  Gymnasium,  1879.  Rus. 
H.  Hollis  Hall,  1763.  S. 
H.C.  Holden  Chapel,  1744.  S.  I. 
H.P.C.  Hasty  Pudding  Club  Ho.  S.  M. 
H.  U.  Harvard  Union,  1901.  Se. 
Ha.  Harvard  Hall,  1765.  Sh. 
Ham.  Hampden  Hall,  1902.  Si. 
H'ke.  Holyoke  House,  1870.  T. 
H'y.  Holworthy  Hall,  1812.  Tr. 

I.  Institute  of   1770.  U. 

J.  Jefferson  Phy.  Lab.,  1884.  W. 

Lit.  Little's  Block,  1854.  W.  B. 

Lb.  Library,  Gore  Hall,  1841.  Wa. 

L.  Lawrence  Hall,  1848.  Ware. 

M.  Matthews  Hall,  1872.  West. 

Mm.  Memorial  Hall,  1874.  W.  H. 

Mn.  Manter  Block,  1882. 

Ms.  Massachusetts  Hall,  1720.  Wi. 

N.  L.  New  Lecture  Hall,  1902.  Z. 

P.  Perkins  Hall,  1894.  Z.  ♦. 

P.  H.  Pi  Eta  Society. 


Peabody  Museum,  1877. 
Pierce  Hall. 
Porcellian  Club. 
Phi  Delta  Psi  Club. 
Prescott  Hall,  1896. 
Quincy  Hall,  1892. 
Rogers  Building,  i860. 
Randall  Dining  Hall, 1898. 
Randolph  Hall,  1897. 
Read's  Block,  1886. 
Robinson  Hall,  1901. 
Rotch  Laboratory,  1890. 
Russell  Hall,  1900. 
Stoughton  Hall,  1805. 
Stillman  Infirmary,  1901. 
Semitic  Museum,   1901. 
Sever  Hall,  1880. 
Shepherd  Block. 
Signet  Club  House. 
Thayer  Hall,  1870. 
Trinity  Hall,  1893. 
University  Hall,  181 5. 
Weld  Hall,  1872. 
Weld  Boat  House,  1890. 
Wadsworth  House,  1726. 
Ware  Hall,  1894. 
Westmorly,  1898. 
Walter  Hastings  Hall 

l8go. 
Winthrop  Hall,  189-5. 
University  Museum,  i860. 
Zeta  Psi  Club  House. 


T'he  Massachusetts  Institute  of 
Technology 

THE  Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology 
is  characteristically  an  institution  for  instruc- 
tion in  practical  engineering  in  its  various 
branches.  The  original  project  of  Prof. 
William  V>.  Rogers,  its  first  president,  and  his  co-workers 
in  founding  the  institution,  now  nearly  forty  years  ago, 
was  to  provide  a  complete  system  of  industrial  educa- 
tion, and  that  purpose  has  been,  in  so  far  as  was  possible 
and  in  the  light  of  educational  advances  of  recent  years, 
faithfully  carried  out. 

The  State  of  Massachusetts  has  generously  aided  the 
Institute  by  grants  of  money  and  of  land,  and  by  an 
allotment  to  the  Institute  of  one-third  of  the  national 
grants  to  the  State  made  just  prior  to  the  foundation 
and  in  more  recent  years.  The  larger  part  of  the  en- 
dowment is,  however,  due  to  private  beneficence. 
Around  that  original  foundation  has  grown  up  what  is 
now  the  largest  technical  and  scientific  school  in  the 
United  States,  and  one  of  the  largest  in  the  world. 

The  aim  of  the  course  of  instruction  is  to  give  a  thor- 
ough, well-rounded  education  in  the  arts,  in  science,  and 
in  the  various  branches  of  engineering,  and  to  turn  out 
men  who  are  competent  to  enter  into  practical  life  as 
engineers,  with  a  training  which  has  given  them  not  only 
a  grasp  of  facts,  but  a  power  of  initiative  which  will 
stand  them  in  good  stead.  A  high  standard  of  scholar- 
ship has  been  maintained  both  in  the  entrance  examina- 
tions and  in  the  instruction  given  within  the  institution, 
and  the  curriculum  has  the  reputation  of  requiring  a 
greater  amount  of  hard  and  earnest  work  on  the  part  of 
students,  than  is  found  in  any  other  technical  institution 
of  collegiate  grade. 

«79 


i8o 


The    Boston 


By  the  last  catalogue,  the  number  of  students  in  the 
Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology  is  1,528;  and 
the  number  of  teachers,  227  :  while  the  list  of  graduates 
has  now  reached  nearly  3,000  in  the  thirty-six  classes 
which  have  gone  out.  It  is  a  body  of  alumni  which,  by 
its  professional  activity  and  by  its  success  in  practical 
life,  has  reflected  credit  upon  the  institution  and  justified 
the  wisdom  of  the  policy  pursued  by  its  founder  and  his 


Rogers   Building.   Massachusetts  Institute  of   Technology 

successors.  The  undergraduate  instruction  is  arranged 
upon  a  group  system,  resulting  in  thirteen  courses,  each 
leading  to  the  same  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Science,  and 
requiring  four  years  of  hard  work  for  its  completion. 
The  abbreviated  college  course  of  two  or  three  years 
recommended  or  experimented  with  by  institutions  deal- 
ing mainly  with  the  so-called  liberal  arts,  can  find  no 
place  in  the  Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology,  for 
four  years  is  all  too  short  to  cover  the  amount  of  work 
required. 


Electrical    Handbook  iSl 

In  the  early  years  of  the  Institute,  the  course  in  civil 
engineering  was  its  most  important  feature,  and  is  still 
one  of  the  largest  of  the  engineering  departments.  In 
its  present  state  of  development  it  covers  a  wide  range 
of  engineering  instruction,  —  topographical  engineering, 
the  building  of  railroads,  harbors  and  docks,  municipal 
engineering,  with  its  requirement  of  sewers,  roads  and 
streets,  the  building  of  bridges,  building  walls  and  other 
fixed  structures,  and  the  hydraulic  engineering  which  has 
become  of  so  great  importance  in  connection  with  elec- 
trical enterprises.  A  special  course  in  sanitary  engi- 
neering has  within  the  last  few  years  received  much 
attention,  differing  from  the  others  in  its  special  require- 
ments in  chemistry  and  in  biology. 

The  largest  single  department  in  the  Institute  is  that 
of  mechanical  engineering,  also  one  of  the  original  de- 
partments. This  course  is  intended  to  train  the  student 
in  the  scientific  principles  that  form  the  basis  of  all 
engineering,  and  to  do  this  in  a  thorough  and  practical 
manner.  Much  laboratory  instruction,  in  the  ample 
engineering  laboratories,  is  given  in  this  course,  and  in 
its  latter  part  there  are  special  studies  in  marine  engi- 
neering, mill  engineering,  and  heating  and  ventilation. 

Mining  engineering  and  metallurgy,  in  a  well  equipped 
special  laboratory,  receives  close  attention.  The  depart- 
ment has  never  been  a  large  one,  but  is  intended  to  give 
the  student  a  thorough  training  in  the  departments  of 
science  upon  which  the  technical  subjects  are  based,  and 
to  give  such  laboratory  instruction  as  will  render  the 
student  competent  to  attack  intelligently  the  problems 
which  arise  in  the  practical  pursuit  of  his  profession, 

A  thorough  course  in  architecture  has  done  sterling 
work  in  turning  out  men  who  have  taken  high  places  in 
the  profession.  The  course  is  richer  in  the  engineering 
instruction  necessary  to  the  design  of  modern  buildings 
than  is  usual  in  architectural  schools,  and  the  facilities 
for  work  on  this  side  of  the  subject  are  here  unusually 
good.  A  recent  innovation  in  connection  with  this 
subject,  is  a  course  in  landscape  architecture  and  de- 
sign, dealing  with  that  e.xtrcmely  interesting  debatable 


l82  The    Boston 

ground  which  lies  between  architecture  and  civil  engi- 
neering. A  part  of  the  instruction  in  this  course  is  given 
in  the  Arnold  Arboretum,  which  is  by  far  the  best  col- 
lection of  trees  and  shrubs  in  the  country ;  and  the  de- 
partment of  civil  engineering  cooperates  directly  with 
the  faculty  of  architecture  in  making  this  department  of 
study  complete. 

Courses  in  chemistry  and  chemical  engineering  occupy 
a  somewhat  prominent  place  in  the  curriculum.  The 
subject  is  here  taken  up  both  on  the  scientific  and  the 
practical  sides,  with  special  reference  to  fitting  the  stu- 
dents to  enter  the  field  of  technical  chemistry  and  the 
applications  of  technical  chemistry  to  modern  manufac- 
tures. To  a  certain  extent  the  department  cooperates 
with  the  department  of  mining  and  metallurgy,  where 
the  subjects  naturally  overlap,  and  special  technical  in- 
struction in  the  problems  arising  in  the  textile  industries  is 
made  an  available  feature  in  the  latter  part  of  the  course. 
Twenty-two  years  ago  the  corporation  of  the  Institute 
established  the  course  of  electrical  engineering,  which 
has  been  conspicuous  in  the  subsequent  history  of  the 
Institute,  and  has  resulted  in  giving  to  the  profession  a 
large  number  of  electrical  engineers  competently  trained 
and  capable  of  making  their  mark  in  practical  life.  The 
Lowell  Laboratories  of  Electrical  Engineering,  made 
possible  through  recent  generous  gifts,  have  just  been 
put  in  working  order.  They  have  an  exceptionally  com- 
plete equipment  and  are  thoroughly  designed  for  the 
training  of  electrical  engineers  in  the  various  branches 
of  the  art.  Not  only  is  the  general  subject  taken  up  in  a 
thorough  and  competent  way,  but  especial  instruction  is 
given  in  telegraph  and  telephone  engineering,  subjects 
which  are  usually  relegated  to  a  minor  place  in  technical 
schools. 

In  planning  the  work  of  the  course  in  electrical 
engineering,  emphasis  has  been  laid  from  the  very  be- 
ginning on  the  fundamental  importance  of  physics, 
mathematics,  and  theoretical  electricity.  A  large  amount 
of  mechanical  engineering  is  also  included,  an  arrange- 
ment rendered  possible  by  the  interdependent  and  har- 


Electrical    Handbook  iSj 

monious  work  of  the  various  engineering  departments  of 
the  Institute.  The  several  departments  mutually  sup- 
port and  reinforce  one  another,  allowing  a  specialization 
of  instruction  impossible  in  a  smaller  college,  with  a  less 
numerous  staff  of  instructors.  The  work  of  the  depart- 
ment is  also  strengthened  by  lectures  delivered  before  its 
students  by  distinguished  engineers  not  connected  with 
the  corps  of  instruction. 

Early  in  the  history  of  the  course  there  was  formed  a 
student  engineering  society,  holding  monthly  meetings 
throughout  the  school  year,  at  which  papers  are  presented 
by  the  students  themselves  or,  as  frequently  happens, 
the  meeting  takes  the  form  of  a  smoke  talk,  an  address, 
not  necessarily  electrical  in  character,  being  given  by 
some  man  of  prominence  in  engineering.  This  society 
also  conducts  excursions  to  electrical  plants  in  and  near 
Boston,  and  its  membership  is  always  largely  represented 
in  the  meetings  held  under  the  auspices  of  the  local 
branch  of  the  American  Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers. 

Since  the  beginning  of  the  year  1902-3,  the  Depart- 
ment of  Electrical  Engineering  has  been  located  in  the 
new  Augustus  Lowell  Laboratories  of  Electrical  Engi- 
neering, erected  during  the  summer  of  1902.  These  cover 
an  area  of  about  45.000  sciuare  feet,  including  a  main  power 
and  testing  floor,  300  feet  in  length  by  forty  feet  in  width. 

The  Lowell  Laboratories  comprise  not  only  a  large 
and  fine  laboratory  for  dynamo-electric  machinery,  but  a 
standardizing  laboratory  and  a  number  of  rooms  for 
special  research,  and  a  well  equipped  workshop  where 
apparatus  can  be  prepared.  The  dynamo  laboratory  is 
of  particular  interest  as  including  not  only  an  extensive 
equipment  of  machines  for  experimental  purposes,  but 
also  the  large  working  plant  which  supplies  power  and 
light  for  the  whole  of  the  Institute. 

It  is  a  thoroughly  equipped  modern  power  house  plus 
a  large  engineering  laboratory,  and  as  such  is  a  suitable 
field  for  giving  not  only  theoretical  instruction,  but  a 
most  practical  view  of  electrical  machinery  in  evervday 
use.  The  apparatus  in  the  dynamo  room  includes  nearly 
every  type  now  in  commercial  use,  besides  much  appa- 


i84 


The    Boston 


Electrical    Handbook  iS^ 

ratus  which  has  been  accumulated  in  previous  years,  and 
which  represents  the  growth  of  the  art.  It  is  the  aim  of 
instruction  in  this  laboratory  to  give  the  student  a  thor- 
ough practical  acquaintance  with  the  various  forms  of 
machinery  in  current  use,  to  train  him  in  testing  and  in 
the  minute  study  of  performance  which  is  necessary  to 
grasp  the  peculiarities  of  the  various  machines,  to  give 
him,  in  short,  a  thorough  grip  of  the  fundamental  prin- 
ciples of  machine  design  and  operation. 

The  power  station  supplies  the  Institute  with  both 
direct  and  alternating  currents  through  a  pair  of  large 
direct-coupled  continuous-current  machines,  and  from  a 
double-current  generator  of  480  kilowatts  capacity,  driven 
by  a  compound  condensing  engine,  operated  in  connec- 
tion with  a  cooling  tower.  Along  one  side  of  the  dynamo 
laboratory  runs  the  set  of  special  rooms  for  instruction 
and  research,  fully  equipped  for  the  carrying  out  of  en- 
gineering thesis  and  of  serious  practical  work.  There 
are,  besides,  admirably  equipped  rooms  for  both  incan- 
descent and  arc  light  photometry  on  a  practical  scale. 
The  Standardizing  Laboratory  is  fully  equipped  with  the 
latest  forms  of  measuring  apparatus  and  with  special- 
ized devices  for  almost  any  variety  of  precise  electrical 
measurement  that  the  engineer  can  be  called  upon  to 
perform.  It  has  a  large  series  of  electrical  standards  of 
various  sorts,  together  with  provisions  for  verifying  com- 
mercial instruments  and  standards,  and  for  carrying  on 
the  research  work,  whicli  forms  an  essential  part  of  the 
science  of  electrical  measurements. 

Now  that  thesis  work  is  so  frequently  carried  on  at  a 
distance  from  the  Institute,  a  careful  preliminary  study 
of  the  methods  and  apparatus  to  be  used  becomes  even 
more  important  than  where  the  work  is  carried  out  in  tlie 
laboratories  of  the  institute  itself. 

In  connection  with  the  regular  instruction  in  the 
standardizing  laboratory  there  is  a  system  of  confer- 
ences in  which  general  methods  of  measurement  for 
technical  work  are  discussed,  and  questions  of  precision 
of  results  and  economy  of  time  specially  emphasized. 
The   Electrical    Engineering    Laboratories    are    also 


iS6  The    Boston 

cahed  upon  to  furnish  opportunities  for  instruction  to  a 
considerable  number  of  non-electrical  engineers,  who 
will  later  be  called  upon  to  decide  certain  electrical 
problems  in  the  selection  and  operation  of  electrical 
machinery.  While  these  students  do  not  need  the 
thorough  grounding  which  is  essential  to  the  success  of 
the  students  in  electrical  engineering,  yet  it  is  extremely 
desirable  that  they  should  have  sufficient  knowledge 
to  bring  about  the  most  satisfactory  result  in  any  given 
case.  The  laboratory  work  brings  out  the  matter  from 
the  operating  standpoint,  which  is  that  with  which  many 
of  this  class  of  men  will  be  most  directly  concerned. 

Throughout  the  laboratory  instruction  the  importance 
of  investigation  and  research,  of  contributing  to  the 
great  fund  of  technical  knowledge,  is  strongly  urged  ; 
and  for  such  work  the  facilities  in  the  Augustus  Lowell 
Laboratories  are  unusual.  The  influence  upon  under- 
graduate work  of  a  small  body  of  men  carrying  on 
original  investigation  cannot  be  overestimated  in  its 
effect  as  an  inspiration  and  as  tending  to  give  the 
student  that  genuine  love  for  his  work  which  must 
always  exist  in  the  man  who  is  to  become  really  great 
in  any  profession. 

In  pure  science  the  Institute  is  active  and  well 
equipped.  It  is  one  of  the  few  institutions  that  is  mak- 
ing a  serious  attempt  to  further  the  study  of  physical 
chemistry,  for  which  a  new  research  laboratory  has 
recently  been  completed,  equipped  with  all  facilities  for 
chemical  and  physico-chemical  work.  This  line  of  study 
is  not  one  which  attracts  a  large  number  of  students  at 
present,  but  in  view  of  its  importance  in  reaching  the 
basis  of  physical  and  chemical  principles,  its  introduc- 
tion here  is  a  forward  step  in  scientific  instruction. 

The  course  in  physics  given  by  the  Institute  is 
distinctly  a  scientific  course,  aimed  directly  to  meet  the 
requirements  of  those  who  intend  to  enter,  for  any  pur- 
pose, upon  a  career  of  pure  science.  It  gives  a  con- 
tinuous and  thorough  view  of  the  various  branches  of 
physics,  and  includes  mathematical  training  advanced 
beyond  the  general  requirements  of  the  purely  technical 


Electrical    Handbook  iSy 

courses.  Special  courses  within  the  department  have 
been  devised,  leading  up  to  the  electro-chemical  and 
electro-metallurgical  industries.  The  laboratory  of  phy- 
sics is  large  and  well  equipped,  with  ample  facilities  for 
the  building  of  special  apparatus  and  for  research  work 
in  almost  any  department  of  tlie  science. 

In  the  realm  of  pure  science  also,  a  most  comprehen- 
sive and  thorough  course  in  biology  is  given  for  students 
who  desire  to  enter  it  for  its  own  sake  or  in  cooperation 
with  medical  or  technical  studies.  It  includes  careful 
training  in  chemistry,  physics  and  modern  languages,  in 
the  elements  of  geology,  and  in  those  general  culture 
studies  which  form  not  a  large  but  an  essential  part  of 
the  curriculum  in  the  engineering  courses.  The  labora- 
tory equipment  is  unusually  complete,  and  facilities  for 
research  are  open  to  those  capable  of  utilizing  them. 

A  special  course  in  geology  offers  a  general  education 
in  natural  science,  together  with  particular  training  in 
geology,  which  may  be  of  service  for  general  or  technical 
purposes.  There  is  a  distinct  demand  for  men  who 
unite  a  training  in  geology  with  a  knowledge  of  geodetic 
and  hydrographic  surveying,  and  a  union  of  these  arts, 
with  proper  geological  instruction,  has  been  specially 
in  mind  in  building  up  the  geological  course  at  the 
Institute. 

A  very  interesting  department  of  work,  which  has 
now  been  established  more  than  a  decade,  is  a  special 
course  in  naval  architecture,  providing  instruction  in  the 
theory  and  methods  of  .ship  designing  with  a  view  to 
training  students  for  the  work  of  building  up  American 
maritime  industries.  This  department  of  instruction 
met  prompt  recognition  from  the  United  States  Navy 
Department,  and  has  been  selected  by  that  Department 
for  the  professional  instruction  of  officers  who  are  to 
enter  the  corps  of  naval  constructors.  A  special  four- 
yeans'  course  has  been  laid  out  with  reference  to  their 
needs,  including,  in  addition  to  the  general  training  and 
professional  work  in  the  regular  line,  instruction  in  the 
technique  of  warship  design.  At  this  point  the  naval 
course  touches  clo.sely  upon  electrical  engineering,  and 


iSS  Electrical    Handbook 

facilities  are  provided  for  the  adequate  instruction  of 
officers  in  tliese  applications  of  electricity  which  are 
important  in  their  professional  work. 

A  Graduate  School  has  recently  been  established, 
enabling  students,  who,  for  professional  reasons  or  in 
the  course  of  study  for  a  higher  degree,  so  desire,  to 
carry  on  their  work  beyond  the  point  provided  for  in  the 
undergraduate  curriculum.  The  introduction  of  graduate 
instruction  is  specially  important,  as  being  the  basis 
upon  which  important  researches  are  likely  to  be  built 
up,  and  it  is  the  policy  of  the  Institute  to  encourage 
post-graduate  study  and  to  provide  unusual  facilities  for 
those  following  these  higher  courses. 

In  connection  with  the  departments  of  civil  engi- 
neering, mining  engineering,  and  architecture,  summer 
schools  are  held,  not  necessarily  located  at  the  Institute 
itself,  but  carried  on  at  whatever  points  seem  necessary 
in  order  to  keep  in  close  touch  with  the  practical  devel- 
opments of  those  sciences.  At  the  Institute  itself  sum- 
mer courses  are  provided  during  the  months  of  June  and 
July  which  have  proved  exceedingly  useful  for  students 
who  wish  to  enter  the  Institute  with  advanced  standing, 
and  to  those  who  desire  training  in  certain  departments 
of  science. 

Aside  from  its  laboratories,  the  Institute  is  provided 
with  a  most  efficient  library  system,  including  in  all  some 
64,000  volumes,  and  especially  rich  in  works  upon  ap- 
plied science.  These  collections  are,  mainly,  aside  from 
the  general  library,  which  is  largely  composed  of  stand- 
ard reference  works,  department  libraries  located  in 
the  various  centres  of  instruction  for  the  different  de- 
partments, and  thoroughly  accessible  to  the  student. 
The  library  is  a  working  library  in  every  sense  of  the 
word,  and  the  facilities  for  promptly  getting  at  the  nec- 
essary books  are  here  exceptionally  good. 

The  Institute  has  not  had  a  long  career,  as  measured 
against  some  of  the  older  institutions  in  the  country,  but 
it  has  pursued  with  a  single  mind  the  policy  which  has 
placed  it  in  the  front  rank  of  technical  institutions,  not 
only  in  the  United  States,  but  in  the  world. 


T/ie   litest  em    Union    T'elegraph 
Company 

THE  Western  Union  Telegraph  Company  is 
the  ohiest  American  company  in  the  field, 
and  operates  along  the  various  lines  of  rail- 
way all  over  the  United  States.  From  a 
very  small  beginning,  has  increased  until  at  the  pres- 
ent time  it  has  a  capital  stock  of  $100,000,000,  and 
reaches  nearly  every  hamlet  and  village  in  the  country. 
According  to  James  D.  Reid,  who  was  an  old-time 
authority  on  the  early  days  of  the  telegraph,  the  origin 
of  the  company  is  as  follows,  as  regards  its  New  Eng- 
land components:  — 

F.  O.  J.  Smith,  representative  to  the  26th  Congress 
from  the  Cuml)erland  Congressional  District  of  Maine 
in  1839,  formed  accjuaintance  with  S.  F.  B.  Morse 
and  his  telegra])h.  An  experimental  line  was  built  in 
Boston  from  Milk  to  School  Streets,  with  a  view  of 
interesting  the  public,  but  no  capital  was  invested  in 
the  scheme  in  Boston.  Smith  then  began  to  construct 
a  line  from  New  York  to  Boston  with  his  own  money 
and  that  subscribed  by  his  personal  friends.  The 
contract  for  the  construction  of  the  work  was  given  to 
George  E.  Pomeroy  of  New  York,  the  line  to  be  of 
co[)per  wire,  twenty-five  poles  to  the  mile.  The  orig- 
inal company  was  organized  under  the  act  of  the 
Legislature  of  the  State  of  Connecticut  in  the  session 
of  1 845- 1 846  as  the  New  York  &  Boston  Magnetic  Tel- 
egraph Co.,  with  a  capital  of  8175,000.  The  Boston 
manager  was  Ira  Berry.  The  Company,  however, 
earned  no  money,  owing  to  the  poor  construction  of 
the  line  and  consequent  innumerable  delays  in  the 
transmission  of  business,  and  public  sentiment  grew 
steadily  against  it. 

189 


I  go  The    Boston 

In  1848  the  New  York  &  New  England  Telegraph 
Company  came  into  existence  and  both  of  these  com- 
panies consolidated  with  a  capital  of  $300,000,  under 
the  name  of  the  New  York  &  New  ?>ngland  Union 
Telegraph  Co.,  the  articles  of  association  being  signed 
July  I,  1852.  On  March  i,  1853,  the  lines  of  the 
Rhode  Island  Telegraph  Co.  were  purchased  for  $5,000, 
and  in  September,  1853,  Charles  F.  Wood  was  chosen 
Superintendent. 

In  i860  the  American  Telegraph  Company  acquired 
the  ownership  of  the  stock  of  the  New  York  &  New 
England  Union  Telegraph  Company,  and  a  lease  was 
signed  and  afterwards  executed,  by  which  the  entire 
property  came  under  its  jurisdiction,  and  was  rapidly 
merged  with  its  own.  A  few  years  later  this  company 
became,  in  turn,  merged  with  the  Western  Union. 

The  Vermont  &  Boston  Telegraph  Company  was 
organized  November  11,  1848,  and  in  1850  the  line 
from  Boston  to  Burlington  was  completed.  It  was 
extended  a  short  time  afterwards  to  White  River  Junc- 
tion, then  to  Springfield,  Mass.,  and  later  to  Rouses 
Point,  N.  Y.  A  connection  was  also  secured  to  Mon- 
treal and  Ogdensburg.  In  1866  Thomas  G.  Eckert 
was  elected  superintendent  of  the  Western  Union,  and 
in  that  year  a  lease  was  executed,  giving  control  of  all 
these  lines  to  the  Western  Union. 

In  1848  the  Maine  Telegraph  Company  was  or- 
ganized with  lines  extending  throughout  the  State  of 
Maine,  but  was  absorbed  by  the  Western  Union  in 
connection  with  the  United  States  Telegraph  Company 
in  1866,  a  concern  which  was  at  that  time  making  a 
fight  for  the  telegraphic  supremacy.  The  American 
Telegraph  Company  was  duly  organized  with  a  capital 
stock  of  $200,000,  under  the  laws  of  the  State  of  New 
York,  and  by  absorbing  the  opposition  lines,  became  a 
powerful  concern.  It  had  seven  routes  from  Boston 
to  New  York,  and  four  between  New  York  and  Phila- 
delphia. At  the  period  of  its  reorganization  in  1859  it 
had  a  capital  stock  of  $1,700,000. 

Since  those  early  days  the  network  of  the  company 


Electrical    Handbook  Igi 

in  the  New  England  States  has  been  steadily  growing, 
cable  connections  have  been  acquired,  and  local  lines 
have  been  absorbed,  until  now  a  remarkably  complete 
system  covers  the  territory.  The  centre  of  the  New 
England  work  is  the  Boston  office,  which  is  very 
thoroughly  equipped  as  an  operating  centre  and  in 
which  is  conducted  a  very  large  volume  of  telegraphic 
business. 


The    Postal   Telegraph-Cable 
Company  in  New  England 

IN  America  the  telegraph  is  operated  by  two  pri- 
vate corporations  in  active  competition  with  each 
other.  The  younger  of  these  competitors  is  the 
Postal  Telegraph-Cable  Company,  operating  in 
connection  with  the  Commercial  Cable  Company  to 
Great  Britain,  France,  and  Germany;  also  with  the 
Commercial  Pacific  Cable  to  the  Orient;  and  with  the 
Canadian  Pacific  Telegraphs  to  Canada. 

This  system,  which  is  popularly  known  as  the 
Postal,  has  been  in  existence  twenty  years  and  reaches 
all  sections  of  the  country.  In  Boston  the  central 
station  is  in  the  India  Building  on  State  Street,  nearly 
opposite  the  Stock  Exchange,  and  there  are  now  forty 
auxiliary  offices  about  the  city. 

The  local  organization  comprises  these  departments: 
Receiving,  Delivery,  Operating,  Dynamo,  Bookkeep- 
ing, District  Superintendent,  Local  Manager,  P^lectri- 
cian,  Maintenance  of  Lines,  and  Supply  Store. 

The  Operating  and  Dynamo  departments  are  the 
only  ones  of  special  interest  where  new  methods  are 
employed,  although  the  entire  station  is  new. 

The  Operating  room  is  72  feet  long  and  42  feet 
wide.  The  main  feature  of  the  room  is  the  switch- 
board, mounted  on  an  oak  frame  and  divided  into 
eight  sections,  to  which  are  assigned  wires  leading  to 
the  West,  the  South,  the  North,  the  East,  local  wires, 
loops,  etc.  800  wires  are  brought  from  the  under- 
ground system  into  the  fireproof  terminal  room  in  the 
basement,  and  from  there  led  to  the  different  sections 
of  the  main  switchboard.  In  the  rear  of  the  switch- 
board is  the  distributing  room;  here  are  located  eight 
vertical  cable  heads  with  a  capacity  of  100  wires  each. 
192 


Electrical    Handbook  ipj 

High  tension  currents  are  intercepted  by  ^-^impere 
enclosed  fuses;  and  lightning  discharges  are  diverted 
to  earth  through  arresters  carrying  mica  plates  5  mils, 
in  thickness.  A  system  of  iron  frames  carries  hori- 
zontal bars  fitted  with  terminals  for  10,000  connections, 
which  may  be  changed  at  will  without  disturbing  the 
main  system  of  wiring.  All  the  trunk  line  conductors, 
leaders  from  the  operating  tables,  repeater  tables,  etc., 
centre  in  this  room,  and  find  their  proper  connection 
with  the  several  sections  of  the  switchboard.  Wherever 
practicable  the  permanent  wires  have  been  soldered  to 
the  frames,  thus  obviating  the  use  of  about  20,000 
binding  posts.  By  the  combined  use  of  flat  and  round 
wedges  the  number  of  wedges  required  in  the  switch- 
board has  been  very  greatly  reduced. 

One  section  of  the  switchboard  is  occupied  by  the 
annunciator  for  use  in  connection  with  the  leased  wire 
service.  The  board  has  a  capacity  of  50  drops.  The 
throwing  of  a  switch  in  the  office  of  a  lessee  releases  a 
drop  and  rings  a  bell,  which  continues  to  ring  until  the 
attention  of  the  chief  operator  is  secured.  Another 
section  is  occupied  by  a  loop  board  for  connecting 
au.xiliary  ofhces  to  quadruple.x  circuits.  Each  section 
in  the  switchboard  is  provided  with  transfer  facilities 
to  every  other  section;  and  in  addition  to  this  there  is 
a  combining  board  for  increasing  the  transfer  facilities 
between  the  several  sections. 

The  room  is  provided  with  two  double-deck  re- 
peater tables,  20  feet  in  length,  upon  which  are  mounted 
14  quadruplex  and  6  duplex  sets  and  20  sets  of  single 
repeaters.  In  each  local  circuit  a  switch  is  placed  for 
culling  out  the  sounders  of  all  sets  which  are  repealing 
through,  thus  reducing  the  noise  to  a  minimum.  12 
quartette  and  5  sextette  operating  tables  are  provided 
with  78  sittings  for  ojjeralors;  there  being  60  operators 
employed  in  this  department.  By  a  simple  device  the 
tables  are  so  arranged  that  such  quadruplex  and  du- 
plex sets  as  are  mounted  on  the  repeater  tables  can  be 
looped  down  to  these  operating  tables,  which  are  thus 
made  available  for  duplex  or  single  wire  working.     The 


ig4-  The    B  0  si  0 n 

full  equipment  of  these  tables  is  entirely  new  and  of 
the  latest  type. 

In  the  Dynamo  room  are  located  three  2-k.w. 
Sprague  motor  generators  delivering  385  volts  for 
quadruples  working;  two  4-k.w.  General  Electric 
machines,  supplying  local  currents,  and  four  Crocker- 
Wheeler  intermediate  machines.  The  electric  light 
current  supplies  a  voltage  of  115  volts  plus  and  minus, 
for  charging  the  single  trunk  lines.  By  an  ingenious 
arrangement  of  switches  the  electric  light  current  can 
be  used  to  supply  all  needs  of  the  system  when  it  is 
desired  to  shut  down  the  generators.  The  switch- 
board in  this  department  is  mounted  on  slate  slabs, 
all  connections  on  the  back  being  made  by  copper 
straps.  The  dynamo  leads  are  carried  under  the  floor 
in  iron  pipes  enclosed  in  sheet-iron  lined  ducts,  to  re- 
sistance coils  covered  with  enamel  and  mounted  on 
slate  slabs  on  an  iron  frame,  back  of  the  main  switch- 
board. These  coils  graduate  the  amount  of  current 
for  long  and  short  lines  and  also  protect  the  generators, 
against  accidental  short-circuiting. 

Galvanometers  are  used  for  localizing  faults  in  cables 
and  on  overhead  lines.  A  recording  apparatus  with 
continuously-moving  tape  makes  a  siphon  record  of  all 
signals  passing  over  any  of  ten  circuits  .selected  by  the 
chief  operator.  This  is  used  for  correcting  errors  and 
detecting  imperfect  transmissions. 

At  one  end  of  the  operating  room  is  a  distributing 
counter  provided  with  filing  cabinets  and  desk  facilities 
for  the  service  department,  and  connected  by  pneu- 
matic tubes  with  the  receiving  and  delivery  depart- 
ments on  the  ground  floor  of  the  adjoining  building. 
Here  is  located  a  branch  telephone  exchange,  with  sev- 
eral trunk  lines  to  the  public  telephone  system,  and 
also  a  house  system  connecting  the  various  depart- 
ments. A  master  clock  in  the  operating  room  con- 
trols dials  in  various  parts  of  the  plant. 


Some  Miscella/ieous   Industries 

No  attempt  will  be  here  made  to  catalogue  the 
diversified  minor  electrical  industries  of 
Boston,  since  they,  for  the  most  part,  dif- 
fer in  no  essential  respect  from  those  carried 
on  elsewhere.  A  considerable  amount  of  capital  is  in- 
vested in  them,  and  the  output  is  of  admirable  quality 
and  finds  a  wide  sale.  A  few  of  the  number  are  some- 
what conspicuous  by  reason  of  the  specialized  nature 
of  the  output,  which  has  brought  it  to  international 
knowledge  as  well  as  to  the  home  market. 

One  of  the  interesting  smaller  industries  is  that  of  the 
manufacture  of  electric  heating  a])paratus  carried  on  at 
present  by  the  Simplex  Electric  Heating  Company  of 
Cambridge.  This  is  the  successor  in  business  of  a 
company  which  had  absorbed  no  less  than  fourteen 
heating  enterprises  of  various  magnitudes.  Up  to  seven 
or  eight  years  ago  there  was  practically  very  little  heating 
apparatus  built  in  this  country,  and,  indeed,  it  was 
dubious  whether,  aside  from  the  manufacture  of  heat- 
ers for  railway  cars,  it  was  possible  to  build  up  a  mar- 
ket, both  on  account  of  the  high  price  of  energy,  and 
on  account  of  the  technical  difilculties  of  the  situation. 

The  introduction  of  insulating  enamels  has  ])roved 
to  be  the  key  to  the  heating  situation,  although  the  de- 
velopment of  apparatus  has  also  been  greatly  facili- 
tated by  the  production  of  wires  of  special  alloy,  pe- 
culiarly adapted  to  enamel  construction.  After  the 
introduction  of  successful  enamels,  enabling  the  tem- 
peratures to  be  carried  as  high  as  300°  to  400°  Centi- 
grade without  seriously  imperilling  the  life  of  the  ap- 
paratus, the  electric  heating  business  began  to  take 
tangible  form,  and  at  the  present  time  the  output  of 
such  goods  is  very  considerable,  both  in  this  country 
and  abroad.      A  large  part  of  the  familiar  ])ro(luct  of 

'95 


/(?6  The    Boston 

this  kind  is  built  at  the  Cambridge  works  here  referred 
to.  Electric  soldering  irons,  glue  pots,  and  heaters  for 
various  industrial  purposes  have  at  present  found  a 
wide  use,  and  electrical  cooking  apparatus  is  a  staple 
article,  mostly  in  the  smaller  items  of  construction, 
although  some  large  electrical  kitchens  have  been  fitted 
up  and,  where  current  can  be  obtained  at  low  prices, 
have  proved  to  be  extremely  economical. 

One  of  the  very  interesting  applications  of  electric 
cooking  is  the  electric  cracker-baking  machine,  baking 
crackers  by  a  practically  continuous  process,  and,  cu- 
riously enough,  at  a  lower  price  than  could  be  reached 
by  ovens  heated  in  the  usual  manner  with  coal,  an  ad- 
vantage due  to  the  much  higher  efficiency  in  the  utili- 
zation of  heat  in  the  electric  apparatus. 

To  a  certain  extent  electric  heaters  for  rooms  have 
been  utilized,  although  this  line  of  work  is  at  present 
only  at  its  beginning;  and  a  thousand  and  one  little 
articles  of  convenience  in  household  and  manufactur- 
ing use  have  been  turned  out,  many  of  which  are 
familiar  on  the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic,  and,  indeed, 
on  the  Atlantic  steamship  lines. 

Another  interesting  Boston  product  which  has  come 
to  be  well  known  in  electrical  industry  is  that  of  the 
American  Circular  Loom  Company  of  Chelsea.  Orig- 
inally making  tubular  woven  fabrics,  quite  devoid  of 
any  special  electrical  use,  this  company  has,  in  later 
years,  put  out  a  very  useful  form  of  interior  conduit 
having  as  its  basis  a  tubular  fabric. 

The  use  of  interior  conduits  of  various  forms  for 
electric  light  wiring  and  similar  purposes  is  rapidly 
increasing;  the  old  methods  of  wiring  having  proved, 
upon  the  whole,  inferior  to  those  in  which  the  wire  is 
carried  in  tubing  specially  fitted  for  insulating  purposes. 
The  special  flexible  product  of  the  company  just  men- 
tioned has  filled  a  useful  niche  in  this  scheme  of  wiring, 
and  has  become  sufficiently  well  known  both  at  home 
and  abroad  to  merit  special  recognition  here. 

There  are,  as  has  already  been  mentioned,  not  a  few 
excellent  electrical  manufacturing  establishments  in  and 


Electrical    Handbook  igy 

about  Boston,  turning  out  large  quantities  of  switches, 
sockets,  railway  materials,  fuses,  small  dynamos  and 
motors,  and  miscellaneous  goods,  which  have  found 
their  way  into  every  corner  of  the  world;  but  more  than 
a  mention  of  their  active  and  successful  existence  is 
out  of  place  here.  It  will  perhaps  be  enough  to  men- 
tion one  of  the  most  important  of  the  group.  This  is 
the  Holtzer-Cabot  Electric  Company,  of  Brookline, 
which  is  one  of  the  oldest  electrical  manufacturing 
houses  in  New  England  and  has  carried  on  for  many 
years  a  diversified  business  in  manufacturing  a  large 
number  of  electrical  specialties  and  stock  articles  of 
such  character  as  have  from  time  to  time  been  required 
by  the  development  of  the  art.  In  the  early  days  of 
the  telephone  it  was  one  of  the  considerable  manufac- 
turers of  telephonic  apparatus,  and  of  late  years  the 
company  has  turned  out  a  large  product  in  small  motors 
and  dynamos,  particularly  those  fitted  for  special  uses. 

One  type  of  motor  which  has  been  from  time  to  time 
turned  out  by  the  Holtzer-Cabot  Company  is  specially 
worth  noting,  as  now  and  then  extremely  useful  in  the 
laboratory.  This  is  a  synchronous  induction  motor, 
made  only  in  small  powers,  up  to  perhaps  one-eighth 
of  a  horse-power,  or  a  little  above,  but  having  the  dis- 
tinguished virtue  of  being  an  absolutely  synchonous 
machine  while  running  purely  as  an  induction  motor. 
The  conditions  under  which  this  unusual  property  of 
synchronous  running  can  be  obtained  are  such  as  to 
forbid  the  manufacture  of  large  machines  of  this  type, 
but  for  operating  various  apparatus  required  to  run  at 
synchronous  speed  in  the  laboratory  or  in  commercial 
use,  these  little  motors  arc  singularly  convenient. 

A  Boston  product  which  is  every  year  becoming 
more  and  more  electrical  is  the  blower  output  of  the 
B.  F.  Sturtevant  Co.  One  of  the  pioneers  in  the  man- 
ufacture of  power  blowers  and  kindred  apparatus,  it 
has  in  latter  years  found  a  world-wide  market  for  elec- 
trically driven  blowers,  and  has  come  to  be  a  consid- 
erable manufacturer  of  electrical  ap[)aratus  for  its  own 
use.     Fans   and    pressure    blowers   directly    driven    by 


i(pS  The    Boston 

motors  have  come  into  very  extensive  use  for  ventila- 
tion and  various  industrial  purposes,  and  at  the  present 
time  no  small  part  of  the  product  bears  the  Boston 
trademark.  It  ranges  in  capacity  from  the  tiny  ma- 
chine requiring  hardly  more  power  than  an  office  fan, 
to  the  immense  wheels  capable  of  coping  with  the 
huge  ventilating  shafts  of  a  great  modern  building. 
Of  the  varied  output  of  the  factory  it  is  hardly  neces- 
sary here  to  speak;  it  is  enough  to  point  out  its  im- 
portance in  the  electrical  field  into  which  it  has  made 
so  notable  an  excursion. 

One  Boston  enterprise  in  the  larger  electrical  field  may 
perhaps  fittingly  be  mentioned  here  as  of  special  en- 
gineering interest,  and  that  is  the  Lombard  Governor 
Company  of  Boston,  manufacturer  of  governors  for 
water-wheels  and  for  steam  engines,  and  of  special 
hydraulic  apparatus  for  use  in  connection  with  power 
plants.  The  problem  of  water-wheel  governing  in  the 
electrical  transmission  of  power  from  hydraulic  plants 
has  always  been  a  serious  one. 

The  requirements  of  electrical  service  are  so  severe 
that  the  older  types  of  governor,  which  proved  amply 
sufficient  for  running  steady  loads,  for  the  most  part 
failed  miserably  when  electrical  generation  was  at- 
tempted. The  necessity  for  improved  governing  of 
water-wheels  grew  soon  to  be  very  acute,  and  the  need 
for  better  regulation  was  fortunately  met  by  the  pro- 
duction of  the  Lombard  governors.  They  are,  in  effect, 
sensitive  fly-ball  governors,  in  which  the  moving  balls 
are  required  only  to  shift  a  tiny  balanced  valve,  throw- 
ing oil  or  water  under  pressure  into  the  working  cylin- 
ders, and  opening  or  closing  the  wheel  gates  with  a 
wonderful  delicacy  of  touch. 

Some  very  ingenious  auxiliary  appliances  are  used 
to  prevent  hunting,  and  the  upshot  of  the  matter  is  that 
the  governor  actually  does  control  the  speed  of  a  water- 
wheel  under  varying  loads  with  substantially  the  same 
precision  that  can  be  attained  in  a  first-class  steam 
engine  governor.  So  signal  a  success  in  the  solution 
of  a  difiicult  problem  is  deserving  of  mention  on  its 


Electrical    Handbook 


'99 


own  account,  the  more  so  as  the  governors  in  question 
are  already  known  the  world  over  as  highly  efficient 
for  their  purpose. 

Space  forbids  enlarging  further  upon  the  electro- 
technical  industries  of  the  city,  those  mentioned  here 
being  simply  worthy  types  of  an  activity  which  has 
kept  Xew  England  in  the  front  rank  of  electrical  man- 
ufacture since  the  inception  of  the  industry. 


200 


Electrical    Handbook 


Itinerary   of  the    Tour 

As  already  set  forth  in  the  circular  from  the 
American  Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers, 
this  Institute  has  extended  an  invitation  to 
the  Institution  of  Electrical  Engineers  of  Great 
Britain  to  visit  the  United  States  and  to  hold  a  joint 
meeting  with  it  in  St.  Louis  in  connection  with  the 
International  Electrical  Congress.  A  general  invita- 
tion has  already  been  extended  to  various  F^uropean 
electrical  engineering  societies  to  join  with  the  Ameri- 
can Institute  in  a  circular  tour,  visiting  important  in- 
dustrial centres,  and  including  the  International  Elec- 
trical Congress  at  St.  Louis,  September  12  to  17,  in- 
clusive. The  programme  of  this  tour  is  as  follows:  — 
The  visiting  members  of  the  Institution  of  Electrical 
Engineers  will  arrive  in  Boston  on  the  White  Star 
S.  S.  "Republic"  on  September  2d,  and  there  be  met 
by  the  local  reception  committee  and  by  a  considerable 
body  of  visiting  engineers,  both  foreign  and  American. 
Boston  is,  then,  the  starting  point  of  the  tour,  the 
itinerary  of  which  is  sketched  on  the  accom])anying 
map,  and  has  been  planned  as  follows.  The  entire  tour 
will  be  by  special  train,  so  that  tha  itinerary  is  inde- 
pendent of  the  regular  railroad  schedules. 

BOSTON,  SEPTEMBER  2d    AND   3d 

The  local  reception  committee  will  meet  tlic  visitors 
upon  their  arrival,  and  conduct  them  to  the  Hotel 
V'endome,  Commonwealth  Avenue,  which  will  be  their 
headquarters  during  their  stay  in  the  city.  On  the 
evening  of  Se])tember  2d  an  informal  reception  of 
welcome  will  be  given  at  the  hotel.  The  next  morning, 
in  accordance  with  lhesi>ecial  entertainment  programme, 
automobiles  will  be  in  readiness  for  a  visit  to  the  power 
201 


202  The    Boston 

houses  and  other  points  of  electrical  interest  in  the 
city,  and  a  trip  through  some  of  the  suburbs  and  part 
of  the  park  system  of  the  city,  reaching  Cambridge 
in  time  for  an  informal  reception  by  the  corporation 
of  Harvard  University,  and  lunch  served  at  the  Har- 
vard Union.  In  the  afternoon  the  party  will  return  to 
Boston  in  time  to  make  a  brief  visit  to  the  Massachu- 
setts Institute  of  Technology  and  other  points  of  local 
interest,  and  at  5.45  p.m.  the  party  will  leave  by  train 
for  I-'all  River,  where  it  will  meet  the  Fall  River  boat 
for  New  York. 

NEW    YORK,   SEPTEMBER  4th   AND    5th 

The  party  will  reach  New  York  about  7.30  on  Sun- 
day morning,  September  4th.  No  special  headquarters 
has  been  arranged  at  any  New  York  hotel,  owing  to 
the  wide  diversity  of  accommodations  to  be  found  in 
the  city,  but  the  local  committee  will  take  charge  of 
the  party,  and  on  the  afternoon  of  September  4th  the 
visitors  and  all  the  members  of  the  American  Institute 
of  Electrical  Engineers  will  be  the  guests  of  ^Messrs. 
J.  G.  White  &  Co.  on  a  steamboat  excursion.  On 
Monday,  September  5th,  the  party,  as  guests  of  the 
New  York  reception  committee,  will  make  a  tour  of 
the  electrical  power  stations  of  New  York  City  and 
other  points  of  technical  interest.  In  the  evening  of 
September  5th  a  formal  reception  and  dinner  will  be 
given  to  all  the  foreign  visitors  by  the  American  Insti- 
tute of  Electrical  Engineers. 

SCHENECTADY,   SEPTEMBER  6th 

On  the  morning  of  Tuesday,  September  6th,  the 
special  train  will  leave  the  New  York  station  of  the 
New  York  Central  &  Hudson  River  Railroad,  begin- 
ning the  circular  tour  proper.  Starting  at  8.45  a.m., 
the  train  will  run  along  the  east  shore  of  the  Hudson 
as  far  as  Albany,  giving  views  of  the  Palisades  and  the 
famous  highlands  of  the  Hudson.  About  fifty  miles 
from  New  York,  on  the  west  bank  of  the  Hudson,  are 


Electrical    Handbook  20j 

the  stately  buildings  of  the  United  States  Military 
Academy  at  West  Point.  Leaving  Albany,  the  capital 
of  the  state,  the  train  will  pass  up  the  Mohawk  Vallev, 
and  at  12.45  P-^-  '^'ill  reach  Schenectady,  where  are 
the  chief  offices  and  works  of  the  General  Electric 
Company.  Here  the  visitors  will  be  entertained  at 
luncheon  by  the  General  Electric  Company,  and  will 
be  shown  through  the  works.  Later  in  the  afternoon 
special  high-speed  trolley  cars  will  take  the  entire  party 
to  Saratoga,  where  dinner  will  be  served  at  the  Ui.'.ed 
States  hotel.  Resuming  then  the  special  train,  the 
party  will  leave  at  10.30  p.m.  over  the  Delaware  & 
Hudson  Route,  along  Lake  Champlain,  and  will  arrive 
at  Montreal  at  7.30  the  next  evening. 

MONTREAL,  SEPTEMBER   7th    AND    8th 

The  party  will  breakfast  at  the  Windsor  Hotel, 
which  will  be  the  headquarters  at  Montreal,  and  the 
day  will  be  spent  in  visiting  local  power  plants  and 
McGill  University,  at  which  a  reception  will  be  given 
in  the  afternoon.  Li  the  evening  the  party  will  dine 
as  the  guests  of  the  Montreal  local  reception  committee, 
and  the  next  day  will  start  for  the  many  points  of 
interest  about  Montreal.  At  eight  o'clock  in  the  even- 
ing the  special  train  will  leave  Montreal  for  Niagara 
Falls. 

NIAGARA   FALLS,   SEPTEMBER  9th 

This  point  will  be  reached  at  nine  o'clock  in  the 
morning,  breakfast  being  served  on  the  train  from 
7  o'clock  A.M.  on.  The  forenoon  will  be  spent  in  visit- 
ing the  Falls  and  in  a  trip  down  the  gorge  to  view  the 
famous  Whirlpool  of  the  rapids  below  the  Falls.  The 
party  will  be  the  guests  at  luncheon  of  the  Niagara 
local  committee,  and  a  visit  will  then  be  made  to  the 
power  houses  of  the  Niagara  Falls  Power  Company, 
the  Niagara  Falls  Hydraulic  Power  Company,  and  some 
of  the  remarkable  electro-chemical  works  to  which 
jjower  is  supplied  by  those  companies.     At  6  p.m.  the 


204  The    Boston 

train  will  leave  Niagara  by  the  Michigan  Central 
Railway,  dinner  being  served  on  the  dining  cars  en 
route.  This  line  passes  through  Canada,  and  passes 
into  the  United  States  again  at  Detroit,  Michigan. 

CHICAGO,   SEPTEMBER    10th 

Chicago  will  be  reached  at  7.30  a.m.,  September 
loth,  and  during  the  day  the  party  will  be  the  guests 
of  the  Chicago  local  reception  committee,  and  will 
visit  the  power  stations  and  park  system  and  other 
places  of  interest.  Leaving  Chicago  by  the  Illinois 
Central  Railway  at  11.45  p.m.,  the  next  stop  will  be 
Springfield,  Illinois,  at  7.30  a.m.,  September  nth.  Here 
breakfast  will  be  served  at  the  Leland  Hotel  on  the 
arrival  of  the  train,  and  a  trip  in  the  trolley  cars  will  be 
made  to  the  tomb  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  Resuming 
the  special  train,  St.  Louis  will  be  reached  at  noon, 
September  nth. 

ST.   LOUIS,   SEPTEMBER   11th  TO    17th 

On  arrival  in  the  city  the  party  will  be  taken  to  the 
Jefferson  Hotel,  which  will  be  the  general  headquarters 
during  the  stay  in  St.  Louis.  An  informal  reception 
will  be  held  at  this  hotel  during  the  evening,  and  at 
9.30  A.M.,  Monday,  September  12th,  the  International 
Electrical  Congress  will  open.  Its  meetings  will  con- 
tinue until  Saturday,  September  17th.  At  8  p.m.  on  this 
day  the  special  train  will  leave  St.  Louis,  taking  the 
party  to  Pittsburg  over  the  Vandalia  Route. 

PITTSBURG,   SEPTEMBER   18th  AND   19th 

Reaching  Pittsburg  at  3  p.m.,  the  party  will  go  to 
the  Shenley  Hotel  which  will  be  the  local  headquarters. 
On  Monday,  September  19th,  special  trolley  cars  will 
be  provided  for  a  visit  to  the  Westinghouse  Electric 
&  Manufacturing  Company  at  East  Pittsburg.  After 
a  tour  of  the  works  the  party  will  be  entertained  at 
lunch  by  the  Company,  and  in  the  afternoon  a  visit 
will   be   made   to   the   foundries   of  the   Westinghouse 


Electrical    Handbook  20^ 

Airbrake  Company.  At  9.30  p.m.,  the  special  train 
will  leave  Pittsburg,  and  will  proceed  over  the  lines  of 
the  Pennsylvania  Railroad  to  Washington,  where  it 
will  arrive  at  7.30  \.m.,  September  20th. 

WASHINGTON,   SEPTEMBER  20th 

Breakfast  will  be  served  at  the  new  Willard  Hotel, 
and  a  visit  will  then  be  made  to  the  offices  and  labora- 
tories of  the  United  States  Bureau  of  Standards,  which 
will  on  this  occasion  be  formally  dedicated.  The 
party  will  be  entertained  at  luncheon  by  the  Wash- 
ington local  reception  committee,  and  a  visit  will  then 
be  made  to  the  White  House  and  other  points  of  in- 
terest. Leaving  Washington  at  8  p.m.,  September  20th, 
the  train  will  reach  Philadelphia  at  11  o'clock  p.m., 
where  the  party  will  have  its  headquarters  at  the  Belle- 
vue-Stratford  Hotel. 

PHILADELPHIA,   SEPTEMBER  21st 

During  the  morning,  visits  will  be  paid  to  the  power 
houses  in  the  city,  and  to  Independence  Hall,  and  other 
points  of  historical  interest.  The  party  will  be  the 
guests  at  luncheon  of  the  Philadelphia  local  reception 
committee,  and  a  special  train  will  leave  Philadelphia 
that  afternoon  at  3.30,  arriving  at  New  York  at  5.30  p.m., 
and  thus  concluding  the  tour,  after  a  journey  of  more 
than  3,000  miles. 


1 1 


95 

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